Commencement is always such a glorious day on our campuses, as our community comes together to cheer our newest graduates, and to honor their scholarly and creative achievements. This year, USC awarded 13,284 degrees on that sunny day in May, and the special memories will remain permanently etched in the minds of so many Trojans. The accompanying photos will give you a sense of the day’s vibrancy, of the warmth and optimism that filled our campuses, and of the longstanding, beloved traditions that we embraced. The enclosure will also tell you more about the six extraordinary individuals on whom we bestowed honorary degrees: John Gurdon, David Henry Hwang, Jimmy Iovine, Glorya Kaufman, Edward P. Roski Jr., and Gayle Garner Roski. Their accomplishments—and the passion they bring to their work—should inspire us all.
In addition to receiving an honorary degree, Mr. Iovine delivered this year’s commencement address. He drew on personal stories from his illustrious career in the music industry—while invoking a few well-known luminaries, such as Bruce Springsteen and John Lennon—and offered tremendously valuable kernels of insight. His well-considered and succinct advice touched our graduating students, and a number of people in the audience asked for a copy of his remarks, which I am sharing with you here. I hope you enjoy his speech, and that these two enclosures convey the excitement we all felt that morning.
In the days leading up to commencement, you most likely heard that USC announced a visionary gift from Mr. Iovine and Andre Young, the celebrated artist and music industry pioneer known as Dr. Dre. Their $70 million gift will create the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation. This will be a groundbreaking program for our undergraduate students, and effectively collapse the boundaries between art and industry, artist and entrepreneur. The academy will prepare keenly creative individuals to become savvy business strategists, while nurturing the artistic passions of talented entrepreneurs.
To offer a few more details, the academy will enroll its first class of 25 students in the fall of 2014, and Erica Muhl, dean of the USC Roski School of Fine Arts, will serve as its inaugural director. Its curriculum will be decidedly interdisciplinary, but will primarily draw from the fields of audio and visual design, engineering, business innovation, and the fine arts. In their fourth year, students will form self-directed teams and advance projects in the “Garage,” a highly experiential setting inspired by the storied Hewlett-Packard garage in Palo Alto. The announcement of this superbly generous gift sparked so much positive media attention, and the accompanying enclosure illustrates the breadth of that coverage.
The week following commencement, USC hosted its 2013 Global Conference in Seoul. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California and USC Governor Downey Professor, delivered a keynote address, and the panels featured faculty experts and their colleagues from throughout the Asia Pacific Region. The university also honored its venerable trustee, Dr. Y. H. Cho, who has been a driving force in building partnerships between USC and organizations throughout the Pacific Rim. During the conference, participants explored a range of timely issues, including the business of education, cross-border cooperation, the art and design of our digital future, and strategies for successful aging. These global conferences are always excellent opportunities for our international alumni to reconnect with their larger Trojan Family, and for the university community to foster collaborations in other countries.
Finally, in the spring, Pat Haden, our athletic director, announced the hiring of two new outstanding coaches for our basketball teams: Cynthia Cooper-Dyke and Andy Enfield. Both coaches are remarkably talented individuals, and I am confident their charismatic leadership will inspire our student-athletes. Ms. Cooper-Dyke, who is a basketball Hall of Famer, played for USC, leading the Trojans to a pair of NCAA championships before winning an Olympic gold medal and four WNBA titles. Mr. Enfield led Florida Gulf Coast into the NCAA Sweet Sixteen, and was an Academic All-American during his student days at Johns Hopkins University. The hiring of Ms. Cooper-Dyke and Mr. Enfield drew significant attention among leading newspapers, and I am sharing a few articles with you here.
Niki and I truly appreciate your stellar service as a USC Ambassador, and your continued enthusiasm for the university. We send you our best wishes for a productive and enjoyable summer. I will write to you again in August, as a new academic year gets off the ground.
Yours truly,
C. L. Max Nikias
President