The Award-winning author, journalist and philanthropist Maureen Orth was awarded the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of San Francisco during May, 2017 Commencement exercises. Orth was honored for her professional achievements as well as for her lifelong dedication to the education of underserved children in Medellin, Colombia, where she rst served as a Peace Corps volunteer. Through her Marina Orth Foundation, Orth now supports 8 schools and thousands of students in Colombia.
In her Commencement address to students receiving graduate degrees from USF’s College of Arts & Sciences, Orth exhorted graduates to follow the EEEPPP rule: “energy, enthusiasm, empathy – prepared, polite, persistent,” noting that “the best exercise for the human heart is to reach down and help someone else up.”
Orth attended San Francisco College for Women/Lone Mountain for two years before transferring to Berkeley and joined her 1964 classmates for their 50th reunion in 2014. She recently hosted a delegation of USF faculty in Medellin to explore partnering with USF’s School of Education for a mentoring program for her staff.
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