A PROUD PAST
2004
2005
2004 The School is named with a record $52 million gift from Trustee and alumnus Andrew Viterbi, and his wife Erna. 2004 A $22 million gift from Mark and Mary Stevens founds the Stevens Institute for Technology Commercialization (SITeC). 2004 U.S. News & World Report ranks the School #6 in graduate engineering programs (#3 among private universities). 2004 P. Daniel Dapkus is elected to the NAE.
2005 Ronald Tutor Hall opens. 2005 C. L. Max Nikias is named USC Provost and Yannis Yortsos becomes dean.
Ronald Tutor Hall
2005 Alumnus John Mork, his wife Julie and their family provide a generous naming gift for the newly combined Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.
POVon VSOE The future of the engineering school looks very bright to me. I look forward to working with Yannis, with his great leadership, his great ideas and all the things that will happen in the near future... Under Yannis’ leadership, I believe there are no limits to how good we can become. —John Mork (BSPE ’70) is the CEO of Energy Corp. of America and a member of the Viterbi School Board of Councilors. on how engineers affect society, technology, history and politics. The Viterbi School added a course in biology for engineers to the traditional mix of physics, chemistry and mathematics. The number of minors available expanded and now includes 3D animation, astronautical engineering, interactive multimedia, law and Internet technology, petroleum engineering, environmental engineering, technology commercialization, video game design and management, video game programming, music technology, web technology and applications, engineering management and construction planning and management. So well was the Viterbi School doing under Nikias’ stewardship, it surprised no one when Sample tapped him for USC Provost to replace
2005 USC celebrates its 125th Anniversary and the Viterbi School commemorates 100 years of educating engineers. The timeline has been edited for print. For a complete and growing timeline, go to http://viterbi.usc.edu/about/ 100_years/timeline/
Lloyd Armstrong, Jr. On June 1, 2005, when Nikias assumed the office of USC Provost, Yannis C. Yortsos became dean of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. “Although this appointment is for an interim period, it is still one of great responsibility and challenge. Leading the Viterbi School, particularly after Max’s spectacular tenure, is a non-trivial task,” said Yortsos on the day he became dean. “My goal is to deliver to the next dean a School even more vibrant and promising than I received it. To this end, I will devote all my energies.” The School continues to build upon the foundation of the last 100 years while looking ahead to the next great research revolutions. As its history demonstrates, the journey has been one of incredible leadership, agility, accomplishments and growth. In looking at the technological innovations of the 20th century, it is clear that one cannot even imagine what engineers will create in the 21st. But one thing is certain. The USC Viterbi School of Engineering will continue to be a leader, blazing a path toward that mind-boggling Dean Yannis C. Yortsos tomorrow.
The writers wish to acknowledge “The USC Engineering Story” by Robert E. Vivian as the main source of historical information used in this special issue. Vivian was the School’s third dean and published his comprehensive history in 1975.
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USC Viterbi Engineer
Mork photo by Max S. Gerber; Yortsos photo by Brian Morri and Tutor Hall photo by Rich Marchewka
VITERBI ENGINEERING