USD Magazine Fall 2026

TOREROS MAKING WAVES

In the past couple years, Petti also created unique programs for USD, including a pilgrimage tracing the steps of St. Francis during Holy Week as part of USD’s 75th anniversary in 2024 and an excursion around Sicily for the European Alumni Reunion in 2025. He has also led academic itineraries in Northern Europe — including England, France, Belgium and The Netherlands — with plans for additional opportunities in the future. “I hope that I left enough of a legacy with the people that have gone through my programs,” Petti said. “For my colleagues that travel with me, the plan is that they take the ideas learned and incorporate them into their classes.” It’s only fitting that Petti now has a visual reminder of Vesalius through the custom-made sculpture presented to him during the event in Antwerp. Created by artist Pascale Pollier, who happens to be a friend of Petti, the wax bust of Vesalius is split in half, one side whole and one side dissected, representing the continuing dialogue between anatomy and art. — Russell Yost

new rosters. Jung-Goldberg was in Dubai playing baseball when the draft began. He livestreamed it on YouTube, and at 4 a.m. local time, during the second round, he saw his name listed as the best player available when the Bananas were on the clock. Then his phone rang. “That was almost better than the MLB draft,” he said. “The pure joy of knowing you worked your whole life to find out how far you could take baseball.” The Bananas selected him in the second round, fourth pick. What Jung-Goldberg discovered once his contract began was that baseball ability — though he has it, evidenced by his home run at Yankee Stadium this past spring — is almost beside the point. Every game requires a performer. He has delivered a Phineas and Ferb walk-up skit from memory and anchored a Molly Long “Double Dutch Bus” dance routine. “You think you got moves until you’re out there in front of 40,000 people with a spotlight and a camera on you,” he said, laughing. His communication degree, once abstract classroom theory, turned out to be preparation. Jung-Goldberg credits USD professors with teaching him how to read a room — how to engage a 6-year-old and an 80-year-old with equal sincerity. “There’s going to be somebody who notices something nonverbally in your emotions when you’re interacting with fans,” he said. “That could make or break their moment with you.” His schedule is relentless: nearly 100 games across the next few months, three games most weekends, continuous travel. Jung-Goldberg leans on the mental discipline he built the moment he walked into USD’s clubhouse as a freshman, suddenly at the bottom of a roster full of players who were four years older. He wasn’t drafted by an MLB team, but he has now played in dozens of MLB stadiums, perhaps inspiring a kid somewhere out there who wants to grow up to be a Banana. — Kelsey Grey ’15 (BA)

FOR KEVIN PETTI, ANATOMIA ITALIANA IS ALL ABOUT HUMAN CONNECTIONS Recognizing a Body of Work

locations across Italy that have made his academic experiences unique. The idea for Anatomia Italiana was born at the University of San Diego when Petti, a doctoral student at the School of Leadership and Education Sciences (SOLES), pursued an interdisciplinary program at the encouragement of then Dean Paula Cordeiro, EdD, that included courses in the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science. A family trip to Italy in 2009 sparked the idea of exploring Italian art and culture while taking a deep dive into the anatomical connections represented in masterpieces by the likes of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Bernini. “[Anatomy] was part of their training because they had to then sculpt and paint the bodies we see and study today,” explained Petti. “When you look at the Sistine Chapel, there’s great evidence that Michelangelo superimposed the shapes of human organs into the ceiling; like The Creation of Adam , where the cloak and cherubs surrounding God form the shape of a brain. When I point that out to students their minds are blown.” Following his first official program in 2012, University of San Diego Magazine profiled Petti and his hopes for Anatomia Italiana. “If he has his way, there will be at least one group of tourists coming through every summer from now on, eager to wander through cool rooms filled with wax models of human organs and bodies,” the magazine wrote at the time. After 42 programs, covering five different itineraries and enrolling 900 people, it’s safe to say Petti’s

It’s spring at the University of Antwerp in Belgium and Kevin Petti ’06 (PhD) sits in a room with anatomists, scientific illustrators and academic researchers — a group he calls “my people.” They have gathered for a scholarly symposium focused on anatomical education and how it is represented across disciplines. To his surprise, Petti is called forward to receive the inaugural Vesalius Health Humanities Prize, a culminating moment celebrating well over a decade of work, study and adventure. The award recognizes achievement and contributions that “explore the intersections of anatomy, art, the history of medicine and the cultural representation of the body.” It’s almost as if the award was created for Petti, who founded Anatomia Italiana in 2012. Each year he brings groups to experience the very locations across Italy where the human body was researched and expressed through art. “It was an incredible honor because honestly when I started this whole line of thinking and research, I thought I was largely alone,” Petti said. “I realize now that there’s actually a community of academics like myself who think that introducing the humanities into the sciences and having an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural educational experience is incredibly important.” The namesake for Petti’s award, Andreas Vesalius, was a Renaissance-era Belgian anatomist who walked the halls of the University of Padua and completed dissections in the school’s theatre. Today, Petti takes groups to the same locations and stands in the same spots, carrying forward the legacy of research and anatomical exploration Vesalius established more than 500 years earlier. Petti, who taught anatomy and physiology at San Diego Miramar College for nearly 35 years, has given talks around the world on his research. He’s made connections with colleagues at some of the most notable — and lesser known —

Photo: Ally Chin, AC3 Visuals

Welcome to Banana Land Max Jung-Goldberg ’22 (BA) grew up going

from Yankee Stadium to Kyle Field at Texas A&M. After his senior season at USD, Jung Goldberg transferred to Hope International University in Fullerton, California, then spent time in independent ball, a world he describes as a revolving door where contracts can evaporate by the hour. He also played internationally, suiting up for the Swiss national team. Despite each move, Jung-Goldberg felt like he wasn’t where he was meant to be. Then came a direct message to his Instagram account. Jung-Goldberg initially missed it — the message had gone into his requests folder — but saw the Savannah Bananas had reached out asking if he would be interested in trying out for the team. He responded, and the rest is history. Last year, the Bananas held its first draft in league history, expanding to six teams and needing to fill two completely

to Disneyland in Anaheim, California, chasing characters for their autographs. This past March, Jung-Goldberg was the one people were chasing in the theme park. The former University of San Diego communication studies major and USD baseball outfielder stood inside the park before the sun came up, waiting to perform for crowds who didn’t come to see Mickey Mouse. They came to see him perform with the Savannah Bananas. “We were Disneyland that day,” Jung Goldberg said. Jung-Goldberg, a Redwood City, California, native, began a one-year contract with the Bananas in January. Founded in Savannah, Georgia, in 2016 by owner Jesse Cole, the Bananas began as a collegiate summer league team before evolving into something the sport has never seen before: a full-time touring baseball team that sings, dances and connects with audiences both in person and on social media. Think Harlem Globetrotters, but with batting averages. The result? The Savannah Bananas consistently play for sold-out crowds — hundreds of thousands of fans — at venues

vision has come to fruition. His academic itineraries range from expeditions with other scientists and researchers to a series of global seminars he developed for San Diego State University to provide busy science students with the opportunity to have an abridged study abroad experience.

“There have been so many peaks and valleys where I thought about quitting, but this is what I was meant to be doing, kind of from the start.”

Background sketches from Andreas Vesalius, De corporis humani fabrica libri septem . (Basel: Johannes Oporinus, 1543.)

42 | University of San Diego Magazine

sandiego.edu | 43