About

Dr. Marco Tavanti (DMT) is a sustainable development expert and international scholar promoting  global social responsibility principles and practices in academia, NGOs and social enterprises.  

Biographics Sketch
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Dr. Marco Tavanti is Tenured Full Professor at University of San Francisco's School of Management. He serves as Program Director of the Master of Nonprofit Administration (MNA) and Director of the Academic Global Immersion AGIRome Program on Refugee Service Management. He teaches nonprofit ethical leadership and sustainable development leadership. His area of research and expertise is global-social responsible management education, sustainability reporting and social impact analysis. He is an international consultant for the United Nations and other international organizations on indigenous human rights and sustainable community development.  He provides capacity development trainings for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their principles and practices for social sector (NGOs), academic institutions, corporations and enterprises. He President of the Sustainable Capacity International Institute (SCIInstitute) and Co-founder of the World Engagement Institute, an international NGOs dedicated to transitional justice and sustainable capacity trainings. From 2003 to 2013 he designed and chaired the International Public Service graduate program at DePaul University where he also contributed to establish eight academic programs. During his 20 years of academic career he designed and directed 23 academic global collaborative programs linking universities and CBOs in Europe, Latin America, East Africa and Southeast Asia. He trains academic administrators and faculty in ethical leadership, cultural competence, service learning and action research. In 2007 he contributed to the establishment of the Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) ever since advanced the integration of the UN Global Compact Principles into management education worldwide.  He serves in the editorial board of the Journal of Management for Global Sustainability and the International Journal for Sustainable Human Security. He has published more than 50 studies in the area of value leadership, international development and management education. ​

About my Journey
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A cup of coffee at my uncle's Piero Tavanti's table. The same table loved by Card. Montini (Saint Pope Paul VI) when visiting my Tavanti Santi's family and enjoying fresh farm food. My father's family was working in mezzadria (a kind of indentured servants) for Card. Montini's lands in Sant'Andrea a Pigli, Arezzo, Tuscany.

The tomb of Judge Angiolo Tavanti, an ancestor buried in the Santa Croce Church in Florence, Italy. His tomb is across that of Nicolo Machiavelli and in between those of Galileo Galilei and Michelangelo Buonarroti. Truly an honor and a legacy.

Started in Business: I started my career in business designing and testing robots for goldsmith industrial productions. I enjoyed working in a family enterprise for jewelry production. When I graduated top of my school for mechanic industrial design everyone expected me to continue my enterprise career. Instead, I was puzzled by the wealthy but not so meaningful life. 
Transformed by the Community: I found purpose in my life when I became conscious objector and did a social service with Caritas. During these two years, I discovered many social needs in my community that I previously ignored. I learned human dignity and compassion for those people at the margins of our communities. The elderly people and people with disabilities at Pia Casa (AR), the at-risk youth and unaccompanied minors at CasaAperta (AR), and the drug-dependency rehabilitation at CasaVerde (VA) opened my heart to compassion. They opened my life to new prospectives. 
International Citizenship: Inspired by the emerging values on community engagement, I wanted to explore the possibility of global engagement. I left for East Africa and served in poverty alleviation and international cooperations projects with NGOs, CBOs and FBOs. Beside Malaria, I also got "the international bug" and lived and worked in nine countries in five continents including Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Jordan, Philippines, Vietnam. In the United States I lived in the Lakota-Sioux Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota (USA) where I learned about indigenous world views I also lived and worked in Chicago among at-risk youth with Mexican and African American gangs and learned about sacred humanity. 
Academic Journey: When I was in Mozambique, I was invited to teach at a newly established Catholic University. There I learned that I can change the world through higher education. After my two master degrees in Cross-cultural theology and Master of Divinity at Catholic Theological Union Chicago, I pursued a Master and a Ph.D. in Sociology at Loyola University Chicago. At DePaul University I also realized how I can be instrumental for international and NGO management education while connecting academia with the United Nations and other international organizations.   
Sustainability Leadership: In my academic and international community engagement career I have been contributing to system thinking for sustainable development, poverty reduction and global leadership. I have attempted to provide practical and integrated solutions across sectors for the promotion of socially impactful innovative solutions for sustainability, inclusion and systemic change. Through my teaching I have inspired principles and practices for sustainability leadership and globally-socially responsible management education. ​

Family Memories of War
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Gildo biking away after his account of the 1944 bombing

Stain-glass of Chapel of Civitella della Chiana

On April 19, 1944, in the locality of Manciano, Castiglion Fiorentino (Arezzo, Italy) the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) accidentally bombed a civilian house near a railroad bridge. In that house 9 members of the Mancini family were killed, including Francesco Mancini, Marco Tavanti’s paternal great-grandfather. The town of Manciano-Misericordia is also the birthplace of actor Roberto Benigni who won an Oscar for the 1997 movie Life is Beautiful (La Vita e' Bella), which was filmed in the surrounding towns. The cover image of the book Sustainable Human Security (photo by Liz Wilp) features ‘Gildo’ a family friend going away from the ruins of the house after his testimony on the accounts of the bombing (December 2012). He was just a little boy but he remembers the facts like it was yesterday. He was crying thinking about how people were using their bare hands to rescue people from the debris of the destroyed house. 

​Another of Marco Tavanti’s family members was killed during these horrific times by the Nazi soldiers who were occupying Italy. His maternal great-grandfather, Ottavio Fabianelli, was killed on the 29 June 1944 massacre in Civitella della Chiana (Arezzo, Italy). On this day, 244 civilians, including women and children, were massacred in a retaliation operation against Italian partisans who had previously killed two German soldiers.

Contact Information

Dr. Marco Tavanti. Ph.D.
Professor and MNA Program Director
University of San Francisco - School of Management
101 Howard St. Ste. 500
San Francisco, CA 94105 (USA)
Office Phone: +1.415.422-4288
E-mail: mtavanti@usfca.edu

Official Portrait

Dr. Marco Tavanti, Ph.D. (Photo 2014)

Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Tavanti CV - ​Last Updated 03-2019

Websites and Social Media
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USFCA marco-tavanti

Dr. Marco Tavanti faculty profile 
Faculty profile for the University of San Francisco, School of Management. ​www.usfca.edu/management/faculty/marco-tavanti

Academia MarcoTavanti

Dr. Tavanti on Academia Network
This site includes some my academic (author's copy) publications. See the Publication Page in this site for selected publications. ​usfca.academia.edu/MarcoTavanti

LinkedIn marcotavanti

Dr. Tavanti on LinkedIN
I use LinkedIN to share job announcements and for networking with colleagues. See my profile and connect.  http://www.linkedin.com/in/marcotavanti

Facebook mtavanti

Marco Tavanti on FaceBook
I use FB to share relevant international news and for updating colleagues, friends and family on my international and community engagement activities. ​ www.facebook.com/mtavanti

Twitter @mtavanti

Dr. Tavanti on Twitter
I use Twitter to share relevant international news stories. Follow me @mtavanti  https://twitter.com/mtavanti

YouTube mtavanti

​Dr. Marco Tavanti' Global Values Channel on YouTube
This YouTube Channel includes video interviews with international leaders on subjects including globalization, social responsibility, conflict resolution, human rights and international development among others. I also have several videos used in my teaching and international programs.Click on the logo or access it at http://www.youtube.com/user/mtavanti

Blogger #AGIRome

Dr. Tavanti Blogger Profile linked in the AGI-Rome Blog
This is a co-Blogging experience with participants of the  Academic Global Immersion Program #AGIRome for Forced Migration and Refugee Service Management. Read more at agirome.blogspot.com/    

USFCA Blog nonprofit

MNA Program Blog
Dr. Tavanti contributes and manages the Blog of the University of San Francisco's Master of Nonprofit Administration (MNA) program. He works with students, alumni, faculty and staff to promote issues and resources for nonprofit management and leadership. usfblogs.usfca.edu/nonprofit/ 

World Engagement Institute

WEInstitute.org
Dr. Tavanti co-founded the World Engagement Institute and contributes to its activities in collaborations with its subject matter experts in transitional justice, anti-human trafficking and sustainable human security. www.weinstitute.org/

Sustainable Capacity International Institute

SCIInstitute.org
 Dr. Tavanti serves as President of the Sustainable Capacity International Institute in Europe for the promotion of sustainable development capacity in leaders, organizations and institutions across public, private and civil society sectors. www.sciinstitute.org/ 

Sustainable Development SDG.services

SDG.Services - Sustainable Development Goals 
​Training site for the principles and practices for sustainable development leadership and sustainability reporting mapped for the Sustainable Development Goals and the Agenda  2030 for People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnerships. https://www.sdg.services/ 

From the cradle of humanism... 
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Florence, the capital of Tuscany and the cradle of culture, the birthplace of the renaissance and the beginning of humanism.

...to the innovations of Silicon Valley.