Month: September 2014

The University of Southern California made a first step toward a new building for undergraduate business education as USC President C. L. Max Nikias, Dean James Ellis, and Jill and Frank Fertitta broke ground for the new Jill and Frank Fertitta Hall on September 19, 2014. Generously supported by Jill and Frank Fertitta (Frank Fertitta is a 1984 graduate of the USC Marshall School of Business), Fertitta Hall will transform the educational environment at USC Marshall, facilitating more collaborative and technology-enabled learning experiences with state-of-the-art classrooms and expanded student areas. Standing in a prominent location on the southeast corner of the University Park Campus at the intersection of Figueroa Street and Exposition Drive, within view of the university’s main entrance, the new building will increase USC Marshall’s undergraduate student capacity by close to one-third….Continue Reading Building a new future for business education

USC Trustee Ronnie C. Chan MBA ’76 and his wife, Barbara, have dedicated $20 million to USC’s pioneering occupational science and occupational therapy program.

Given in honor of Chan’s mother, the gift endows and names the division, which will be known as the USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. This is the first naming gift and the largest ever made to any occupational therapy program in the history of the field, according to the American Occupational Therapy Association.

The gift also greatly extends the division’s international reach, as it creates the USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Occupational Therapy China Initiative, which will establish a partnership with a top Chinese university to develop a graduate program in occupational therapy in China. In addition, the gift endows the Mrs. T.H. Chan Professorship in Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. Florence Clark, associate dean of the division, will be installed as the first holder of the professorship….Continue Reading Chan family makes milestone gift

USC President C. L. Max Nikias and Mrs. Niki C. Nikias hosted the most generous employee donors to the USC Good Neighbors Campaign – the President’s Leadership Circle – at a dinner at the USC President’s House in San Marino on Sept. 14.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the USC Good Neighbors Campaign, a unique employee giving program that supports community-based partnership activities throughout the neighborhoods surrounding the University Park and Health Sciences campuses.

The Leadership Circle is composed of top employee contributors, all of whom have donated 1 percent or more of their annual salary to the campaign. For the 2013-2014 Good Neighbors Campaign year, more than 500 employees in this giving circle contributed a total of $700,000 toward the final tally of $1.7 million….Continue Reading Good Neighbors Campaign — a tradition of giving

Hundreds of supporters, civic leaders, and USC leadership arrived for the historic groundbreaking of the USC Village—a new student housing, retail, and dining center adjacent to the USC campus. In attendance were Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson, Councilmember Curren Price, former Los Angeles City Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Councilmember Mitch Englander, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, Assemblymember Sebastian Ridley-Thomas and Compton Mayor Aja Brown.

The biggest development in the history of USC at $650 million, the project also will be one of the largest in the history of South Los Angeles, providing thousands of jobs and pumping billions of dollars into the local economy.

Phase one of this development project involves 1.25 million square feet of land that includes greenspace space, retail space, communal space and residential housing, all within a masterpiece of collegiate Gothic architecture redefined for the 21st century….Continue Reading USC Village – For Students and Neighbors

The newest addition to the USC University Park Campus, Dr. Verna and Peter Dauterive Hall, officially opened on September 3, 2014 with hundreds of well-wishers and dignitaries in attendance. The six-level, 110,000-square-foot building is the first interdisciplinary social science building, and represents the future of research collaboration, as well as a key milestone in the $6 billion Campaign for USC. The new building, made possible by a $30 million gift from educator, alumna, and USC Trustee Verna B. Dauterive MEd ’49, EdD ’66, will function as a catalyst for creativity and a gateway to discovery—bringing together researchers from many disciplines in a shared environment….Continue Reading Dr. Verna and Peter Dauterive Hall opens with USC Fanfare