In the spring of 2000, after his Fellowship at the Open Society Institute was completed, Kohl accepted the challenge of building a small, autonomous teacher education program centered on equity and social justice at the University of San Francisco (USF). The Center for Teaching Excellence and Social Justice opened with 25 students in the fall of 2000. The first year was supported by a special innovative grant from the President of USF (January 2000 to January 2001). The next three years were supported by a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (September 2001 to June 2004). Under the terms of the grant, the Center also worked on reform in the Oakland and San Francisco school districts.