President C. L. Max Nikias is leading a delegation to Washington, D.C., to talk to lawmakers today about issues affecting higher education. The university is represented by a leadership group that includes Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Elizabeth Garrett; Senior Vice President Thomas S. Sayles; Leonard D. Schaeffer, the USC Judge Robert Maclay Widney Chair whose gift created the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics; and USC trustees Richard DeBeikes Jr., Barbara J. Rossier, Bruce M. Ramer, and Jeffrey H. Smulyan.
The visit started off with a dinner on Monday at the home of USC Trustee Jane Harman, president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the former U.S. Representative for California’s 36th congressional district.
The former congresswoman hosted guests from Capitol Hill such as U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein; U.S. Representative for California’s 33rd congressional district, Henry Waxman; and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. Influential Washington opinion leaders General David Petraeus; NPR chief Gary Knell; and Mexico’s former ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan were also in attendance.