October 2014 Edition
This has been an extraordinarily exciting and busy month on the USC campuses, and Niki and I have a number of wonderful news items to share. On the one-year anniversary of their arrival at USC, Professors Paul Thompson and Arthur Toga received two Centers of Excellence awards from the National Institutes of Health. The centers—with combined funding of $23 million—will form part of a “big data” initiative, which will make massive biomedical data sets more accessible to researchers. Professor Toga will draw on the cell and brain samples of 30,000 patients from around the world to develop data management and analysis strategies. Professor Thompson will gather 307 scientists in 33 countries, scouring their data for solutions to a range of diseases, from autism to depression and mental illness.
Jill and Frank Fertitta Hall breaks ground
Meanwhile, construction on our campuses continues apace, and in recent weeks, our community came together to celebrate two historic, new buildings. In September, USC began work on Jill and Frank Fertitta Hall, which will provide a new home for undergraduates at our Marshall School of Business. This building will stand at the southeast corner of our University Park Campus, and reflect the Fertittas’ expansive vision for how our students can grow as entrepreneurs in our increasingly globalized society.
Wallis Annenberg Hall dedicated
We also marked the official opening of Wallis Annenberg Hall. This leading-edge facility bears the name of one of the university’s greatest supporters; as USC’s longest-serving trustee, Wallis Annenberg has provided stellar guidance and counsel to our university for more than four decades. And thanks to her support—and with the building’s high-tech digital tools—USC will help Annenberg students create and convey timeless stories that connect and chronicle the human journey for generations to come.
Iovine and Young Academy disrupts the status quo
This fall, we welcomed the inaugural class of the USC Iovine and Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation, and Billboard magazine published an excellent story on the academy’s highly creative students and their new learning laboratory, “The Garage.” Producers and namesakes Jimmy Iovine and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young pledged $70 million to found the academy, which is cultivating the next generation of “disruptive” innovators. As a follow up to this story, during the USC Global Conversation in New York earlier this month, Mr. Iovine discussed his vision for the academy, and how USC became its home.
USC and WIRED create new online degree
Continuing innovation at the graduate level, this month we announced a partnership with Condé Nast and WIRED magazine to create an online master’s degree in Integrated Design, Business, and Technology. Our partnership combines USC’s academic rigor with the expertise of WIRED’s writers, editors, and designers. The 18-24 month program will educate creative thinkers and technologists, preparing them to reimagine the world of industry and enterprise. The first cohort will begin next fall.
Two USC faculty receive special accolades
Los Angeles Magazine tapped Professor Roberta Diaz Brinton as its Woman of the Year, recognizing her decades-long research to combat Alzheimer’s disease. Professor Brinton has developed two compounds currently in clinical trials that have exceptional potential to address the progressive condition, which currently afflicts more than five million people in the United States alone.
Meanwhile, Fortune magazine included Professor Tracy Fullerton among its list of the 10 most influential women in video games. Professor Fullerton directs the USC Game Innovation Lab at our School of Cinematic Arts. The story noted USC is one of the top gaming schools in the world.
Additional news
I’d like to conclude with a few special updates. Dominic Ng, chairman and chief executive officer of East West Bank, recently joined the USC Board of Trustees. Mr. Ng stands among our city’s most venerable civic leaders, and brings tremendous breadth of experience to this role.
In addition, CNN published a list of top schools with billionaire undergraduate alumni, and USC ranked an impressive fourth, after only the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and Yale—and ahead of Princeton, Cornell, and Stanford. And finally, I recently sat down with a reporter from C-Suite Quarterly for a wide-ranging interview regarding USC and its place among our nation’s top private institutions. Our discussion included major USC supporters, such as Gary Michelson and Glorya Kaufman, as well as USC’s economic impact on our region. I hope you enjoy the resulting article.
Yours truly,
C. L. Max Nikias
President