Office of Media Relations at the University of San Diego
November 11, 2025 | View in web browser

USD News Connect: Connecting Expert Voices to the Stories Impacting Our Community

November 11, 2025

Good morning newsrooms!

Here's your USD News Connect — where each week the University of San Diego media relations team offers expert voices to speak on stories impacting our community. If you're interested in the stories below, or need experts for any other topic you might be working on, don't hesitate to reach out to us at press@sandiego.edu.*

Veterans Helping Veterans at USD's Veterans Legal Clinic

USD's Veterans Legal Clinic is one of 13 legal clinics at USD's School of Law that offers free legal services to the community while providing practical legal skills to students who work on the cases, alongside a supervising attorney. At the Veterans Legal Clinic, three out of the six law students are veterans themselves and one is military-connected. The two staff attorneys are both military spouses and daughters of veterans, as is their paralegal. This military-connected team is helping their fellow veterans with free legal support while providing invaluable understanding of what these veterans may be going through after being discharged. A veteran student and an attorney with the clinic are available for interviews.

History Professor Helps to Curate Online Exhibition About La Jolla's Coastal History

USD history professor Molly McClain has been studying La Jolla's rich history and advocating for its preservation for years -- and even helped the community get a designation on the National Register last year. Recently, she helped to launch a three-part online exhibition called "La Jolla's Coastal Legacy: Nature, Culture & Conservation" on Google's Arts & Culture platform. The exhibition showcases historic photos and background on La Jolla's history and its evolution to the city it is today. Molly McClain can discuss what she hopes San Diegans, and the wider community, can learn about this unique, coastal community.

Women Thought Leaders Gather at USD

For over 20 years, USD has invited women leaders, activists and scholars from around the world to our campus for a peacebuilding fellowship called the Women PeaceMakers program. The PeaceMaker fellows spend two weeks on campus, working with each other and meeting with students and local organizations. They bring their unique experience to the table to try to come up with new ways to shape the peacebuilding field. This year’s fellows include an international relations professor, a gender and technology lawyer and a human rights lawyer. They’ll speak at a public panel Wednesday night. The PeaceMakers are available for interviews before the event, as well as the program’s organizer, Briana Mawby, Program Officer for Women, Peace and Security at USD.

For all media inquiries, email our team at

press@sandiego.edu.

* Please note that times of availability will vary according to professors' schedules.

USD Spotlight

At the Edge of It All - The Athletics Edge: How Name, Image and Likeness is Shaping College Sports

In this episode of At the Edge of It All, Lauren Kirby, Director of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) at the University of San Diego, shares her journey from college athlete to NIL leader. Kirby explains how student-athletes can build their personal brands and navigate financial literacy. She also discusses NIL’s growing impact on local businesses and the broader college athletics landscape. Listen here.