President Nikias and First Lady, Niki Nikias, returned over the weekend from a three-day tour of Texas, including stops in Houston, Austin and Dallas. They hosted Trojan Family Receptions, meeting hundreds of alumni, parents, and other friends of the university during their whirlwind tour of the state.
In his remarks, President Nikias highlighted USC’s close bonds with Texas – as USC’s larger feeder state for students after California, as the home of USC’s largest alumni base outside of California, and as a state where USC has increased recruitment, admitting 10% more students for Fall 2015 compared to the previous year.
President Nikias also spoke about USC’s ascent as an academically elite research university, focusing in on his strategy of recruiting the best people, which he said were at the heart of any successful organization. “In the past five years,” he said, “we have recruited more than 30 truly transformative faculty – better than excellent – in the humanities, social sciences, engineering and the professions. As a result, the number of faculty who are national academy members has doubled.”
The President and First Lady were met with great enthusiasm and energy in all three cities, with particular excitement around President Nikias’ announcement that the Trojan football team would play Alabama in Arlington in 2016, the University of Texas at the Coliseum in 2017 and one year after that, the Trojans will be in Austin to face the Longhorns on their home turf.