As we approach summer’s midpoint, and as construction on our University Park Campus remains in high gear, I want you to be among the very first to learn about USC’s grand vision for growth in the coming months and years. The enclosed insert contains renderings of eight major projects currently under way on our University Park Campus, and offers interesting details regarding their amenities. I hope you will take a moment to read through it.
And, as we discuss the university’s physical expansion, it’s only natural that we include some discussion of our exceptionally close relationship with our local communities. To this end, I want to share a second special insert, Investing in Our Communities, which highlights many of the dynamic programs that USC spearheads locally. It will give you a sense of the inspired and numerous ways that Trojans contribute to our surrounding neighborhoods.
I encourage you to share this insert with your friends and family. USC takes tremendous pride in its civic engagement programs, which stand at the very heart of what it means to be a Trojan. Several of our current programs date back more than four decades, and each week, the average USC student devotes two and a half hours to civic engagement, serving in local schools, nonprofits, and small businesses. In this academic year alone, USC invested $32 million to bolster community initiatives.
These efforts advance a number of renowned programs. On the last page of the insert, you’ll find an easy-to-read rundown of some of our most notable programs, which span the university’s schools and units. These programs include our venerable Neighborhood Academic Initiative, School for Early Childhood Education, Minority Business Development Agency, and TRiO. This list will give you an understanding of the broad scope of USC’s initiatives, as well as the sheer breadth of our outreach.
Returning to the University Park Campus insert, you’ll learn more about our immediate development projects, the most ambitious of which is the Village at USC, to be located in the University Village area, which is owned by USC. This venture will be the largest economic development project in South Los Angeles history, and will nearly double university-owned student housing. It will also bring essential new services to our entire community.
This project’s construction, which is scheduled to begin in 2013, pending city approvals, complements a number of other august developments, all of which will answer specific needs for our community. The tools and features in Wallis Annenberg Hall will help USC remain at the fore of communication and journalism, as these two fields rapidly evolve in response to technological developments. And, located just off our Pardee Way entrance, Verna and Peter Dauterive Hall will become the university’s first interdisciplinary social sciences building, as well as a vibrant center for research and teaching, serving faculty and students from across the university. Aesthetically, it will make a majestic statement at this prominent gateway to our campus.
Meanwhile, our storied athletics program will have a glorious new home this fall, as the John McKay Center opens in time for football training camp. The center will house the USC football program, academic services for our student-athletes, and expanded training facilities. Our swimming, diving, and water polo teams will also have a spectacular new home, as we break ground on the Uytengsu Aquatics Center in the fall, drawing on the largest gift ever made to the USC Athletic Department by a former student-athlete, Wilfred “Fred” Uytengsu, and his wife Kerri. Mr. Uytengsu initially joined USC’s swim team as a freshman walk-on, but by his senior year, had become team captain. In many ways, the Uytengsu Aquatics Center will reflect the Trojan spirit: the embodiment of excellent academics with excellent athletics.
On that note, and while I’m on the subject of our remarkable student-athletes, I want to share the exciting news that the USC men’s tennis team, led by Coach Peter Smith, won its fourth straight NCAA Championship last month! This came with a spirited victory over the University of Virginia, marking the team’s record-setting twentieth national title. Impressively, it also marks USC’s 117th national championship overall—a milestone that represents the collective, decades-long contributions of generations of student-athletes.
Returning to campus growth, next spring, we will open the Engemann Student Health Center, which will provide primary and urgent care, as well as comprehensive counseling and health promotion services. It also will feature laboratory and medical imaging facilities, and a separate clinic for faculty and staff. And later this year, we will complete the final phase of construction on our School of Cinematic Arts Complex. This newest building will house the school’s Interactive Media Division, the Institute for Multimedia Literacy, and the Interdivisional Media Arts and Practice program. Both structures will significantly enrich the northwest corner of our campus.
Finally, as this letter reaches you, we are pressing ahead on the renovations at the center of our University Park Campus, in the area over which Tommy Trojan presides: Hahn Central Plaza. In the days following commencement, construction teams descended upon the square with jackhammers, and we will soon have an intricate brick square serving as our central hub, as well as a striking new water feature, the redesigned Patsy and Forrest Shumway Fountain.
As I list these various projects, and while the bricks are placed and the steel framing rises, I want to emphasize that these plans are not just about building hardscape and laying landscape: they are about building communities, both on our campuses and within our larger community. They promise to strengthen bonds with members of the Trojan Family, and to advance the scholarly and creative work being done by our faculty and students every single day. They are about connecting people and nurturing communities.
In this same spirit, and in time for you to make plans for the fall, I want to take this opportunity to personally invite you to attend our USC Global Conversation, scheduled for London on October 8-9. This two-day event will include a keynote address by the Right Honorable Jack Straw, the United Kingdom’s former foreign and home secretary. It will also be a wonderful opportunity to network with other Trojans, attend cultural events, and spend time in one of our world’s most extraordinary capitals. The enclosure offers additional details, which you can also find at USCinLondon.usc.edu.
I truly appreciated your wonderful support throughout the 2011-12 academic year, and look forward to continuing to write to you in the coming months. I hope you enjoy your summer.
Yours truly,
C. L. Max Nikias
President