This is always a special time of year, as our students return home to their families, and our Trojan Family draws together even closer. Niki and I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season, and send you and your family our warmest wishes for the new year.
With this letter, I would like to return to an exciting piece of news from last month: as part of the USC President’s Distinguished Lecture series, President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush addressed our students, faculty, and guests in Bovard Auditorium. Dean James Ellis of our Marshall School of Business facilitated the discussion, which touched on a broad range of topics, including the Bushes’ time in the White House and their continued humanitarian work in Africa.
It was an extremely memorable evening. Rarely do we have an opportunity to spend time in the company of two individuals who have practiced leadership on such a global stage, and at such pivotal moments in human history. And, few people have carried the cosmic sense of pressure and responsibility on their shoulders that our former President and First Lady have. Their visit resonated particularly strongly with our students, and Bovard Auditorium was completely filled to capacity. We even had to turn many students away at the door.
During the discussion, President Bush answered questions concerning the events of September 11, the 2008 financial crisis, and his foreign policy. He also discussed his memoir, Decision Points, baseball, and the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. Mrs. Bush, meanwhile, discussed her efforts to advance literacy programs, combat preventable disease, promote human rights, and foster educational opportunities for women around the world. Together, they commented on their widely-praised work in Africa, where they lead impressive efforts to fight HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and more recently, the growing incidence of cervical cancer.
In coming to Bovard, President and Mrs. Bush continued an historic tradition of USC campus visits by former or sitting American presidents: their predecessors include presidents Barack Obama, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford.
Throughout the year, the USC community welcomes a number of distinguished visitors to our campuses, and in 2013, we welcomed the former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John McCain; and the former President of Mexico, Vicente Fox. The accompanying insert includes photos from their visits to USC.
Also in November, USC and the Pacific Asia Museum announced a new alliance, and that the museum is now named the USC Pacific Asia Museum. Our partnership will create outstanding new collaborative opportunities for both institutions, while significantly bolstering the scholarly and creative work of USC’s six preeminent arts schools, as well as the university’s departments of art history; East Asian languages and cultures; and religion. It will also strengthen our U.S.-China Institute and Korean Studies Institute. At USC, more than 6,000 students are pursuing degrees in the arts, and this partnership will certainly invigorate their work, as well as that of our International Artist Fellows.
The USC Pacific Asia Museum remains one of the few museums in the United States dedicated to the arts and culture of Asia and the Pacific Islands, and our alliance will preserve the museum’s glorious 1924 mansion in downtown Pasadena. The National Register of Historic Places lists the museum as a California State Historic Landmark.
The work of the USC Pacific Asia Museum will complement that of the USC Fisher Museum of Art, as the latter’s permanent collection contains objects from the Americas and Europe. The alliance will also strengthen USC’s programs in museum studies and curatorial training. We announced our new alliance at an event in the museum’s beautiful courtyard, and the accompanying photos will give you a sense of that evening’s excitement, as well as a feel for the museum’s striking architecture.
As we look to another year, Niki and I want to thank you particularly warmly for your continued service as a USC Ambassador, and wish you a happy holiday season. On Thanksgiving, Niki and I welcomed more than 350 USC students to our home, continuing a tradition we began in 2010. For many of these students, their homes are too far away, and they would have no place to go for this holiday. For our international students, it is often their first introduction to this very American holiday, and a wonderful chance to learn more about American culture. For a few more of these students—indeed, some hail from Pasadena!—it’s an opportunity to spend the holiday with their larger family: the Trojan Family. For Niki and me, it’s always a seasonal highlight.
Yours truly,
C. L. Max Nikias
President