"It was a heartbreaking experience," said Tracy Schroeder, vice president for information technology. "Steam and toxic gasses such as methane rise from the heaps of trash, and cows whose milk will later be sold at the market graze on the garbage. Children and adults alike search through the garbage for items of any value."

USF President Stephen A. Privett, S.J. said the experience was intended to help guide his leadership team in making decisions that are in line with the university's mission of educating students who will create a more humane and just world.

"This is how two-thirds of the world lives," he said, referring to the impoverished conditions they witnessed in Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. "If we are truly educating with a global perspective, then students need to know what the globe looks like. The best place to see the world's inhumanity is in a dump where people live on garbage. These are the kinds of inequalities we hope our students will address."

The trip to Nicaragua June 9-16 marked the third such retreat for university executives. In past years, the group traveled to El Salvador and Tijuana. The trips are similar to undergraduate immersion experiences offered by University Ministry in Mexico and El Salvador, among other locations. The leadership retreat is not intended to be a time for detailed university planning, but rather an opportunity for leaders to deepen their understanding of the USF mission.

Fr. Privett said it is his hope that the experience "cultivates a shared set of sensitivities that might allow the leadership team to see opportunities for students where others might not."

To that end, Fr. Privett signed a formal agreement with the Universidad Centro Americana (UCA), the Jesuit university in Managua, to explore future collaboration in student programs.

The group met with their counterparts at UCA and learned about the university's social outreach projects. One afternoon was spent with local artisans, including a leather craftsman and ceramic artist, who are being assisted by UCA students in exporting their wares. USF leaders are now investigating the possibility of having the university's leather diploma covers and ceramic coffee mugs made by the artisans they met that day.

The group also met with Fernando Cardenal, who runs grammar and high schools for the poor and served as minister of education under the Sandinista government, and other social, economic, and government leaders working to alleviate the plight of the poor in Nicaragua.

"I don't know of any other university that does anything like this with its leadership team," said School of Nursing Dean Judith Karshmer, who joined USF last year. "It impacted me at every level, from the personal to the professional, in terms of bringing back ideas for giving more students the opportunity to have a similar immersion experience."

Also new to the retreat this year was School of Business and Management Dean Mike Duffy, who has experience creating leadership development programs for large companies. "This was one of the best I have ever seen," he said. - Source: University of San Francisco News