President Nikias honored at LAPD Museum Gala

On the evening of Saturday September 20th, USC President Dr. C. L. Max Nikias was honored at the Los Angeles Police Museum’s 21st Annual Jack Webb Awards. The award is presented annually to individuals who make positive contributions to their communities by partnering with law enforcement.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck presented the Award to President Nikias in recognition of his and USC’s longstanding work and close cooperation.

Beck said, “President Nikias has been an extraordinary partner and exceptional friend, not only to me, but to the men and women who proudly serve the City of Los Angeles. He exemplifies the values and traditions of the Los Angeles Police Department and is deserving of the Jack Webb Award for his significant commitment to the LAPD and life-long support of the entire law enforcement community.”…Continue Reading President Nikias honored at LAPD Museum Gala

Building a new future for business education

Fertitta Hall Groundbreaking

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

Chan family makes milestone gift

Chan family milestone gift

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

Good Neighbors Campaign — a tradition of giving

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

USC Village – For Students and Neighbors

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 Destined Reign of Troy”

C. L. Max Nikias was inaugurated as the University of Southern California’s 11th president on October 15, 2010. In his inauguration speech, “The Destined Reign of Troy,” he sets an audacious goal for USC: achieving “undisputed status as one of the great universities of the world.”…Continue Reading “The Destined Reign of Troy”

NCAA Compliance Meeting for Incoming Student-Athletes

Delivered on September 2, 2014 to new student-athletes

Today I also want to affirm USC’s commitment to sportsmanship, embodied in the NCAA’s rules and regulations. They represent the guidelines to which we and our competitors have agreed to abide. They represent the foundation of sportsmanship and the foundation of our own efforts to reach greatness. You are Trojan student-athletes, who have been marked out for greatness. We will be here for you, to help you reach greatness….Continue Reading NCAA Compliance Meeting for Incoming Student-Athletes

Module – Photo Gallery

“USC’s commencement ceremony was exceptionally glorious, as we cheered nearly 16,000 new alumni, and welcomed more than 60,000 visitors to our campuses.” “USC’s commencement ceremony was exceptionally glorious, as we cheered nearly 16,000 new alumni, and welcomed more than 60,000 visitors to our campuses.”…Continue Reading Module – Photo Gallery

Dr. Verna and Peter Dauterive Hall opens with USC Fanfare

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

Judge Robert Maclay Widney Statue Unveiling

Delivered on August 29, 2014 at the unveiling of the Judge Robert Widney statue on the USC campus

One simply cannot overestimate Judge Widney’s role in USC’s birth and early growth. He personally drafted the university’s articles of incorporation, which our statue now holds, and you’ll soon see. He asked and convinced three real estate partners – Childs, Downey, and Hellman – to donate the land. He was the first chairman of USC’s board of trustees. His brother, Joseph Widney, founded USC’s medical school in 1882 and later became the second president of the university.

Judge Widney donated $100,000 for the university’s first endowment fund—an extraordinary amount in that age—and he would later supervise the management of this fund. He was a dreamer, a visionary, a builder. Through force of will, he reimagined a region and the destinies of countless others who would follow here….Continue Reading Judge Robert Maclay Widney Statue Unveiling