USC Trojan Family Magazine Summer 2025

Carol Folt’s presidency

scene

In November, USC President Carol Folt broke ground on the Bloom Football Performance Center, a 160,000-squarefoot complex that will serve as the home of Trojan football by 2026. The center brings total investments in athletics facilities to more than $200 million, the most transformational era of athletics facilities upgrading and expansion in university history.

PHOTO BY STEVE COHN

What’s in a Name?

One measure of the impact of any university president can be taken in concrete, brick, glass and rebar. USC President Carol Folt’s six years at the helm have been no exception, featuring such new and renovated structures as the Dick Wolf Drama Center, the Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Human-Centered Computation Hall, the reimagined student spaces in the Gwynn Wilson Student Union Building, the soonto-be-completed Rawlinson Stadium for women’s soccer and lacrosse, and the wellunderway Bloom Football Performance Center.

Throughout this special issue of USC Trojan Family Magazine, we will share many similar examples of Folt’s lasting, positive impact on this institution. Her tenure has been marked not only by major construction and renovation projects like those listed above, but also by changes that — though modest in scale — carried massive meaning.

Folt recognized that names have symbolic power, and that the names of buildings on a campus can communicate a university’s values.

That’s why Folt renamed a signature building on the University Park Campus the Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow Center for International and Public Affairs, after the Native American historian and renowned chief of the Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation, who earned his master’s degree at USC.

That’s why she renamed the field where the USC track and field teams compete after USC alumna Allyson Felix, an activist, entrepreneur, mother and the most decorated track and field athlete in Olympic history.

And that’s why she honored USC Nisei students — Trojans of Japanese descent who were forced into detention camps during World War II — posthumously awarding honorary degrees to all who hadn’t yet received them. A quiet rock garden near the main entrance to the University Park Campus commemorates what Folt has called “a deeply shameful episode in our history.”

As you will read throughout this issue, the present-day successes of Folt’s presidency are many. Both through these achievements and her willingness to address challenging episodes from USC’s past, Carol Folt has positioned the university to reach even greater heights in the future.

Ted B. Kissell Editor-in-Chief USC Trojan Family Magazine

The magazine of the University of Southern California

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Ted B. Kissell

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Jane Frey

MANAGING EDITOR

Lilledeshan Bose

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Chinyere Cindy Amobi

COPY EDITOR

Cord Brooks

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Mary Modina

INTERACTIVE CONTENT MANAGER

Edward Sotelo

VISUALS EDITOR

Caleb Joel Griffin

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Gus Ruelas

STAFF WRITERS

Greg Hernandez

Rachel B. Levin

Grayson Schmidt

DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Pentagram

CONTRIBUTORS

Stephen Gee

Leigh Hopper

Will Kwong

Laurie McLaughlin

David Medzerian April Ortiz

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Captive tigers helping the wild, one name to spark Trojan spirit and more.

11 Battling Addiction with Science

Adam Leventhal on why studying addiction hits close to home.

14 Bringing Shade

Planting trees along Los Angeles sidewalks is helping the city be cool again.

16 From Theory to Practice

Learning is a two-way street when USC Rossier students visit local classrooms.

After six years of visionary leadership, Carol Folt is retiring as USC’s 12th president. The bold initiatives she’s introduced have positioned USC as a leader in research, technology, health, athletics and more. (Story on p. 18.)

USC Alumni Association celebrates its annual gala and has a surprise guest.

Sports broadcasting comes to USC courtesy of the Big Ten Network StudentU program.

26

USC President Carol Folt is retiring after six years filled with challenging hurdles, resounding successes and barrier-breaking collaboration that planted seeds of innovation everywhere.

By Rachel B. Levin

Mission: Possible

USC’s six moonshots are an ambitious plan to make USC a top destination for students, faculty and staff seeking purpose-driven work, multidisciplinary learning and innovative discovery.

By Chinyere Cindy Amobi

Putting Students First

President Carol Folt’s student-centric approach has been at the heart of her stint as leader of the university. By

Greg Hernandez

Treating the post-COVID rise in alcohol-related liver disease. By

Laurie McLaughlin

Adventures of the Merry Men

The proud traditions of the Merry Men — USC’s sometimes British-themed, always adventurous mixed-form improv comedy troupe — can be a little hard to pin down.

“In all honesty, when I first heard about the Merry Men, I thought it was an allmale improv group,” Julia Kess ’28 says. “I almost didn’t try out.”

There are also rumors of an erstwhile uniform: frilly, puffy shirts and tights, reminiscent of Robin Hood’s merry band of thieves after which the group is named. There’s some disagreement among the members over whether those uniforms ever actually existed.

What is known about the Merry Men is that they deliver some of the wittiest

mixed-form improv at USC. The group tackles many different forms of improv, from short, game-based comedy (think Whose Line Is It Anyway?) to long-form improvised plays. They have performances based on themes — like a murder mystery night where all the improv takes the form of interviews with suspects, an interpretation of a Shakespeare play in four acts, even an improvised musical — all while bringing the laughs and keeping the vibes nothing short of excellent.

“I think what makes the Merry Men awesome is how much we experiment,” group President Lukas Garberg ’26 says. “It really keeps you on your toes.”

GEOFFREY WARING

DREAMING IN MIXED MEDIA

A hand holds a lighter, but the flame turns into a mushroom cloud. A man opens a locker, just to place a rotary phone in it.

From beginning to end, This Is a Story Without a Plan — an animated film by Cassie Shao ’19 — is a visual feast. The characters are animated digitally, and the scenery is painted on animation cells with 3D and abstract backgrounds. It’s a style that Shao has turned into her distinct visual language. “I dream of strange scenarios and make animation about them,” she states.

Shao knows all about turning dreams into a creative reality. Studying animation was her lifelong ambition, so she packed her bags and moved from Hangzhou, China, to the United States.

After earning her bachelor’s degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she looked to USC for graduate studies. “The USC School of Cinematic Arts opened me up to new possibilities of animation,” she says.

The dream is for her filmmaking and animation to reach viewers on an emotional level. About This Is a Story Without a Plan, she says, “I wanted to connect to the audience that might be stirred up by these imageries, despite coming from different backgrounds and having different experiences in life.”

BEKAH WRIGHT

After Cool Puts Neighborhood Kids Center Stage

About 30 fourth and fifth graders were on the stage of the 24th Street Theatre, using such phrases as “I told you to be careful,” and “Oh no” to create an original scene with a partner.

The exercise in creating content through critical thinking and teamwork was part of After Cool, one of several programs the theater offers to help meet the educational and social needs of the youth in the West Adams community just blocks from the USC University Park Campus.

“It’s really magical and powerful,” teacher Melissa Booey told the group at the end of the free, two-hour class. “You all interpret things differently and are very brave with taking what’s in your imagination and putting it on the stage.”

The weekly after-school program, which receives funding from USC’s Good Neighbors Campaign, builds students’ acting and creative skills. Along the way, participants develop confidence on stage and in their daily lives.

“It’s really opening them up, not only to each other, but to themselves,” says USC School of Dramatic Arts student El Belilty ’25, an After Cool teaching assistant. “They are learning to empathize, to communicate, to make friends and to be in an ensemble and take care of others.” GREG HERNANDEZ

5 Treasures to Check Out at USC Libraries

USC’s 19 libraries — 16 with physical locations across the University Park and Health Sciences campuses — are home to a staggering array of materials. The USC Libraries collectively hold 6 million volumes; 2.4 million e-books; 85,000 linear feet of archival collections; and 400,000 streaming films, videos and sound recordings. Apart from books, items such as rare World War II artifacts, Hollywood film memorabilia and other tactile treasures are preserved. Here are five of our favorite items.

RACHEL B. LEVIN

18TH CENTURY SENSATION

“While Encyclopédie by Denis Diderot is technically an encyclopedia, what Diderot and his collaborators created was an exhaustive attempt to document human knowledge and capability of the time — a sort of lifeboat of civilization,” says rare books librarian

A TILE TALE

Los Angeles River Terrazzo created from a mixture of aggregate and debris scooped directly from the river by local resident Michael Tessler — is part of the Architecture and Fine Arts Library’s sustainable materials collection. Head librarian Shannon Marie Robinson (right) says, “Materials tell stories, and those stories deeply connect us to objects and the built environment.”

Wellington to Korea in 1928. Korean Library liaison Hong says of “Ewha jubilee celebrations” the significance missionaries’ Korean history, helped build institutions and hospitals and served as diplomats between the United States and Korea.

CUTTING-EDGE

manager

FRAGMENT OF FASCISM

Taylor Dwyer, curator of the Feuchtwanger Memorial Library at USC Special Collections, marvels that a burned fragment of a page from Jewish author Lion Feuchtwanger’s bestselling book pulled from the embers of a Nazi by a passerby in Berlin on May 10, 1933. “It intrigues me that it was saved; I wonder by whom and at what risk. To me this artifact symbolizes survival in the face of intentional destruction,” Dwyer says.

TROJAN

CLEAN AND GREEN

USC President Carol Folt speaks to the 2024-2025 President’s Sustainability Internship Program cohort at the Sustainability Hub in August. Students in the program work on a range of projects around campus that combine their passion for sustainability with their academic training.

How CaptiveTigers Can Help Wild Ones

USC

Dornsife

Professor Jazlyn Mooney’s exploration of captive tigers’ genetic ancestry could benefit the wild tiger population.

BY WILL KWONG

The number of tigers living in captivity has risen in the United States in recent years, prompting Congress to pass the Big Cat Public Safety Act of 2022. Experts estimate approximately 5,000 tigers live in private facilities across the country. Some conservation biologists have considered methods in which captive tigers could potentially help the wild tiger population.

The answer may reside in the genome of captive tigers. A recent study led by Jazlyn

Mooney, co-principal investigator for the study and Gabilan Assistant Professor of Quantitative and Computational Biology at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and Ellie Armstrong at the University of California, Riverside, was published by PNAS. The study explored these captive cats’ genetic ancestry for the first time, yielding findings that could lead to more efficient methods to monitor and manage the captive tiger population in the United States.

TFM: What led to the population growth in captive tigers in the United States?

Mooney: There was a large increase in the population of captive tigers for monetary purposes like the illegal wildlife trade, circus acts and cub-petting facilities.

There are currently more tigers living in captivity in the United States than there are living in the wild.

TFM: Why did you do this study?

Mooney: Previous research on captive tigers used very limited data. Ours is the first study of the complete tiger genome, so we explored common assumptions many people may have about captive tigers.

TFM: How could your findings benefit wild tigers?

Mooney: We’ve seen numerous extinctions of tiger populations over the last 100 years. Though some populations of tigers have recovered, others have continued to decline at a rapid pace. Many tiger populations have decreased by as much as 90%.

In theory, captive tigers with genetic diversity could be used to help boost numbers in the wild. But the issue is, how do we do that? We don’t know the answer. This is a big question that conservation managers are currently thinking about.

TFM: What’s next for this research?

Mooney: We are going to look deeper into the tiger genome. What does the recombination look like for a tiger? Does it look different than a house cat?

Since we have genetic data from a large number of both captive and wild tigers, we were also able to make a genetic ancestry panel that could be helpful to organizations like U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which now receives all goods that are confiscated from illegal activity.

This can include products like teeth, claws and pelts, but can also include live animals that are being trafficked. They may want to know where confiscated products and tigers are from. In the future, it is possible for them to use our ancestry panel to do just that.

Another future direction is broadening our sample of captive tigers to see if we can get more information from different sanctuaries around the world.

PHOTO BY ISTOCK

A new USC study finds that the genetic diversity of captive tigers is similar to what is observed in wild populations.

Fighting On in One Name

USC’s iconic Song Leaders, Spirit Leaders, Tommy Trojan, Traveler and Trojan Marching Band unite under “The Spirit of Troy” moniker.

BY CHINYERE CINDY AMOBI

It was in 2021 — as USC was preparing to ramp up in-person activities and welcome students back to campus after the pandemic that USC Vice President for Student Life Monique S. Allard and then-newly hired USC Trojan Marching Band Director Jacob Vogel saw an opportunity to reignite the Fight On spirit on campus.

In November 2024, the team rebranded all of the university’s ambassadors of school spirit — the Trojan Marching Band, USC Spirit Leaders, USC Song Leaders, the Tommy Trojan mascot and Traveler — under

the moniker “The Spirit of Troy.”

Uniting all five spirit groups under one umbrella helped bring Trojans “back into the fray and to remind them of what a sense of normalcy was before the pandemic,” Vogel says. More importantly, it helped support and pull together the collective energy of the groups.

Although the five spirit programs frequently collaborated to support university events in the years before joining under The Spirit of Troy umbrella, the groups operated in silos. Some — including the Spirit Leaders, the Song Leaders and Traveler — were organized

under USC Recreational Sports, while the Trojan Marching Band operated independently.

Vogel advocated for the spirit teams to come under the management of the Trojan Marching Band to improve collaboration and make it easier to raise the morale of a student body that had missed many important school celebrations such as high school graduations and college commencements. Bringing together a greater diversity of experiences and perspectives has also transformed how students participate in the various spirit groups, making collaboration between teams easier.

“At the core of all of our work is creating a really positive experience and environment for all students,” Allard says. “All of our teams are made up of USC students. We want everyone, while in the spirit programs, to have a positive and transformative experience that not only stays with them for the rest of their lives but also influences how they represent and enhance the university spirit at large.”

The university’s ambassadors of school spirit have all banded together to operate under the name “The Spirit of Troy.”

Humanist is National University Chaplain of the Year

Vanessa Gomez Brake always knew she needed to work in a place where she could put her knowledge and curiosity to the best use. To Gomez Brake, that place could only be USC.

The USC senior associate dean of religious life, who supports more than 90 student religious groups and 50 religious affiliates at USC, has charted an unconventional path in university chaplaincy. Unlike most religious or spiritual leaders, Gomez Brake is not a practitioner of any religion; she is a self-identified atheist — or secular humanist, as she prefers. That’s why she

Fighting Dementia with a Pill?

USC Leonard Davis Professor Constanza Cortes’ lab is looking for ways to help older people who can’t exercise due to medical or physical conditions.

Exercise not only boosts blood flow and reduces stress. It also prompts muscles to secrete messengers that guard against Alzheimer’s disease by activating a network called the “muscle-brain axis.”

New research published in the journal GeroScience suggests this muscle-to-brain conversation can be switched on without any exercise at all.

Using mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, USC researchers “borrowed” one of these muscle messengers and replicated the benefits of exercise on the brain.

“This opens up opportunities to develop ‘exercise-in-a-pill’ treatments for our brain,

said she needed to be in a university setting: There’s an atmosphere of openness that she says nurtures her own spiritual journey.

Gomez Brake believes that universities are ideal spaces for spiritual exploration, regardless of belief systems. “I joke with other atheists that the university is our sacred place,” says Gomez Brake, who received her doctorate in education from the USC Rossier School of Education. “Where else do you go to in the pursuit of knowledge and truth?”

Her work has earned national recognition: In February, the Association for Chaplaincy and Spiritual Life in Higher Education named her Chaplain of the Year. Varun Soni, USC’s dean of religious life, says her creative approach to ministry and chaplaincy offers a national

“Where else [but a university] do you go in pursuit of knowledge and truth?”

VANESSA GOMEZ BRAKE

which we are currently actively testing in our lab,” says senior author Constanza Cortes, an assistant professor at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.

Such a treatment could benefit older people, who may have trouble achieving recommended levels of activity due to injuries or other medical conditions.

For this study, researchers compared

model for the future of religious life in higher education.

Gomez Brake, who also is an advisor to the university’s Interfaith Council and Secular Student Fellowship, is the first humanist to be a top religious leader at a college or university. GRAYSON SCHMIDT

the behaviors of Alzheimer’s mouse models with Alzheimer’s mice that had been genetically engineered to secrete high levels of a muscle messaging peptide without exercise.

The muscle messenger preserved the mice’s ability to navigate a maze or to nest — both measures of healthy cognition.

“We looked at a bunch of Alzheimer’srelated pathologies — accumulation of plaques in the brain, inflammation in the brain and synapse communication, which is how neurons talk to each other,” Cortes says. “All of these things are completely awry in Alzheimer’s. So, we examined a group of Alzheimer’s mice, and then the same Alzheimer’s mice but with this muscle modification, and we showed that we could ‘rescue’ a lot of these symptoms.”

In addition to Cortes, other study authors are Hash Brown Taha, Ian Matthews, Karel Aceituno, Jocelyne Leon, Max Thorwald and Jose GodoyLugo, all of USC; and Allison Birnbaum of UCLA. LEIGH HOPPER

Vanessa Gomez Brake

OF VANESSA GOMEZ BRAKE; PILL PHOTO BY ISTOCK

Personal Journey, Public Mission

For University Professor Adam Leventhal, studying addiction is a goal born out of personal struggle.

BY LEIGH HOPPER

Years before University Professor Adam Leventhal became a leading expert on addiction, he was a teenager growing up at the height of teen smoking in the 1990s.

Like his friends, he was a “kid cigarette smoker” who later struggled to quit. When methamphetamine became a problem in his San Diego high school and affected his friends, he witnessed addiction up close.

“At a young age, I wanted to understand what compels a nice, intelligent person to repeatedly engage in an action they know is bad for their health and damages their relationships, friendships and other aspects of their life,” says Leventhal, a University Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences and Psychology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Leventhal also holds an appointment with the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

Today, Leventhal, a clinical psychologist and researcher, is the founding executive director of the USC Institute for Addiction

“Addiction treatment should be made accessible to everyone.”

ADAM LEVENTHAL

Science, or IAS, which has 80 faculty members across 10 USC schools, colleges and hospitals. In February, Leventhal was named a University Professor, one of USC’s highest academic honors. In March, the American Academy of Health Behavior will recognize Leventhal as its 2025 Research Laureate Award winner.

Working on a mission

Not long after Leventhal joined USC in 2009, his intellectual interest in addiction began shifting into something more personal and mission-driven. He had a good understanding of the typical academic formula, winning grants and publishing papers.

Then, in 2010, his brother disclosed that he was struggling with opioid use disorder. He had nearly overdosed.

“He’s my best friend. I’m a clinical psychologist and supposed to be someone who can ‘spot’ addiction — and I Leventhal says. “I’m grateful encouragement to go into treatment

In 2018, Leventhal together what became the help of John Clapp at the Dworak-Peck School of Daryl Davies at the USC School of Pharmacy and Sciences and others.

“I wanted to have a broader public health. There were many ple across different schools incredible work in addiction, weren’t collaborating,” Leventhal He pitched the idea of starting ter to the provost, who encouraged them to “make it bigger.”

Members of IAS study the causes, consequences interventions for a range addictive behaviors: nicotine, cannabis, gambling, excessive digital media use, opioids, alcohol-associated liver disease, cancer and more.

Leventhal’s own work, supported by $75 million in grants, includes research on the harms associated with electronic cigarettes and vaping. A 2019 study published in JAMA

and led by Leventhal showed that minty and fruity flavored e-cigarettes were widely used among U.S. teens, resulting in federal regulations intended to rein in e-cigarette use among youth. In 2020, the FDA appointed him to its Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee.

Personalized care

Leventhal’s long-term goal is even more ambitious: to create a treatment center that revolutionizes science-based addiction care and do it at USC.

“Because addiction is stigmatized, it is relegated to the fringes of health care and lags behind other diseases,” Leventhal says. “Addiction treatment can be personalized and executed with precision, and it should be made accessible to everyone. The goal is to create a place where science, treatment and prevention come together to improve lives.”

Deans List

New deans were installed at the USC School of Architecture, the USC Gould School of Law, the USC Leventhal School of Accounting and the USC Price School of Public Policy. BY

RACHEL B. LEVIN AND GREG HERNANDEZ

Brett Steele

USC School of Architecture

When world-renowned architect Brett Steele was named dean of the USC School of Architecture in 2023, his interdisciplinary approach to architectural education was highlighted as one of his most unique and significant leadership qualities.

At his installation in September, Steele explained why interdisciplinarity is a vital priority in his vision for the school. “The 21st century is being built through all kinds of new, interdisciplinary, collaborative forms of discovery, practice and research,” Steele said. “Our school just happens to have that impulse already built into its DNA, and it’s simply waiting for us to leverage it.”

Before coming to USC, Steele was dean of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, where he oversaw 14 degree-awarding programs in four academic departments, two world-renowned museums and the Center for the Art of Performance.

The first in his family to attend a university, Steele attended art and architecture schools on the West Coast before founding his own architectural offices in New York City and London.

He sees his role leading the USC School of Architecture as one grounded in the school’s sense of place in a global city with the world’s largest creative economy. “Southern

California is a big, big idea,” Steele says. “It’s one full of promise, one with real challenges, for sure, but also one that continues to be filled with true possibility.”

Franita Tolson

USC Gould School of Law

Franita Tolson was officially installed as dean of the USC Gould School of Law in December 2024. She was named dean in March 2024 after serving as interim dean in 2023 while holding the George T. and Harriet E. Pfleger Chair in Law.

The first Black dean and the second female dean in the 124-year history of USC Gould, Tolson is a nationally recognized scholar in election law who has addressed such topics as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 14th and 15th amendments, partisan gerrymandering and other constitutional issues.

She first came to USC Gould in 2017 and was named vice dean for faculty and academic affairs shortly thereafter. As vice dean, she helped launch USC Gould’s new visiting assistant professor program, which aims to create a pipeline for new law faculty, including those from underrepresented backgrounds. She also contributed to the law school’s efforts to ensure the community’s health and safety while sustaining its educational and research mission during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During her installation ceremony, Tolson

remarked that her job involves more than fundraising and putting out fires: “As dean, I recognize that I’m tasked with continuing the story of this beloved law school, and I want to honor the deans, the faculty, the staff, the students, the alumni who laid important groundwork for us to be able to claim the mantle of being one of the best law schools in the country.”

Andrew Call

USC Leventhal School of Accounting

After interviewing for the position of dean of the USC Leventhal School of Accounting, Andrew Call told his wife, “If there is a university in heaven, it will be like USC.” The match made in heaven became official in September 2024, when he succeeded William

W. Holder as dean of USC Leventhal, a part of the USC Marshall School of Business. Call also holds the Alan Casden Dean’s Chair of Accounting.

Before USC, Call was at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University as director of the school of accountancy. He is credited with recruiting and retaining top research and teaching professors and increasing the faculty’s racial and gender diversity.

Call graduated with a doctorate in accounting from the University of Washington after earning his graduate and undergraduate accounting degrees from Brigham Young University. He began his career as an assistant professor of accounting at the University of Georgia.

He remains bullish about accounting as an academic discipline and a profession, referring to it as the “language of business” and the “foundation upon which so many

business decisions are made.” Call says, “Accounting remains an incredible foundation upon which to build a career … really, any career in business.”

Chris Boone

USC Price School of Public Policy

At his installation ceremony last February, Chris Boone, the dean of the USC Price School of Public Policy, said he was drawn to USC Price’s commitment to solutions, real-world impact and interdisciplinarity. “At Price, we have engaged in scholarship and activities for policies, and plans and guidelines that are responsive to immediate needs but also anticipate future needs,” he says. Boone, who also holds the C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Dean’s Chair, is an expert in urban sustainability, global environment change, urbanization and environmental justice whose research contributes to scholarship and practice in those fields. He has authored and co-authored three books, 21 book chapters and 56 journal articles, and his scholarship has been supported with 62 research grants totaling $40 million. Prior to USC, Boone was at Arizona State University for 18 years, where he served in various leadership positions, including as dean of the School of Sustainability and founding dean of ASU’s College of Global Futures. Boone says he was impressed by USC’s commitment to sustainability, which has been one of USC President Carol Folt’s university priorities since she arrived at USC in 2019. “We need more higher education institutions engaged in sustainability, and I am excited to lend my knowledge and experience to advance the admirable sustainability efforts already underway at USC,” Boone says.

From Trash to Eco-Friendly Fashion

The USC Sea Grant Program was awarded nearly $2 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to develop a disruptive and sustainable method for upcycling ocean-bound plastic waste across Southern California waterways, and to investigate the psychology behind eco-conscious choices.

The multidisciplinary project team, which will be co-led by the USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability, will collect local marine microplastics and other plastic trash, and leverage a new hybrid chemical/biological approach to recapture the carbon and energy embedded in these waste materials. Using this novel process, the materials will be converted into high-value molecules and biomaterials to produce dyes for eco-friendly fashion and enzymes for sustainable laundry detergents.

This part of the project will be spearheaded by Clay C.C. Wang, chair and professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical

sciences at the USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; Travis J. Williams, professor of chemistry at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; and Richard W. Roberts, professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

Equally important as the biotechnology, the project will also examine social barriers to consumer adoption of such trash-derived products and familiarize public audiences with these emerging technologies through an integrated educational outreach program. This work will be led by Joe Árvai, director of the Wrigley Institute and a professor of psychology, biological sciences and environmental studies.

Co-investigator Karla Heidelberg, director of USC Sea Grant and professor of the practice of biological sciences and environmental studies, will lead the outreach and education initiatives on environmental plastics. USC STAFF

USC Sea Grant Program receives funding for novel upcycling technology.

USC PhD students Shayna Kohl (left) and Anvi Surapaneni (right), both from the lab of Professor Travis Williams, carry a discarded tire on Santa Catalina Island, where trash from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch often washes up.

Bringing Shade

guide a more equitable urban forest — identified Bethune Middle School as a priority location due to its pollution exposure and lack of shade.

While the Bethune Middle School project began in early 2025, the studies that led to its fruition were years in the making.

Office of Community and Local Government Partnerships, and the city of L.A.

The initiative published its first strategic guide for tree-planting opportunities in 2021, identifying Eastside communities such as Lincoln Heights, El Sereno, Boyle Heights, University Park and City Terrace/East L.A. as areas with the greatest need.

On the sun-baked corner of West 67th Street and South Main Street, shade is hard to come by. The nearly 1,000 students enrolled at the adjacent Mary McLeod Bethune Middle School need relief from rising temperatures. Thanks to support from USC’s Urban Trees Initiative, a solution is on the way.

The area will eventually have more than 60 trees lining its streets as part of a $3 million urban greening project made possible with a grant to the city of Los Angeles from the U.S. Forest Service for Urban and Community Forestry to increase equitable access to trees and nature. USC Trees — a partnership between the city and USC to

“We’re in a very fortunate position to have faculty who care about the communities that we work in and live in.”

MONICA DEAN

A collaborative effort

USC Trees is a collaborative effort between the USC Dornsife Public Exchange, the USC Dornsife Spatial Sciences Institute, the USC Dornsife Carbon Census network, the USC School of Architecture’s Landscape Architecture program, USC’s

In November, Urban Trees planted more than two dozen trees in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles, collaborating with the Koreatown Youth and Community Center and L.A. Sanitation and Environment.

The trees were the first of 250 that will be planted and cared for across L.A.’s AdamsNormandie, University Park and Exposition Park communities.

USC Trees uses data to improve the equitable distribution of green spaces in Los Angeles. The initiative, organized through USC Dornsife Public Exchange, specializes in community-driven projects and draws on the shared expertise of leaders in geospatial sciences, landscape architecture, air quality and community engagement.

“The part that I find really rewarding is that my colleagues, my student researchers and I, have developed a series of tools to really engage people who live in these neighborhoods in this conversation and help them understand what trees can do to help them as the climate gets warmer,” says Esther Margulies, a professor of practice and faculty member in the USC School of Architecture Master of Landscape Architecture + Urbanism program.

A community partnership

“We’re in a very fortunate position to have faculty who care about the communities that we work in and live in — and who want to work in partnership with the city and nonprofits to help maximize their resources and energy and effort,” says Monica Dean, climate and sustainability practice director with the USC Dornsife Public Exchange. “I think this collaboration shows the value of research universities in dealing with these big social issues,” she adds.

The tree planting event was a key milestone for USC Trees and the sustainability “moonshot,” developed by USC President Carol Folt in 2022 to promote green research, education, policymaking and practice.

The USC Urban Trees Initiative and the city of L.A. are cooling local neighborhoods one street at a time by planting trees along sidewalks. BY GRAYSON SCHMIDT AND STEPHEN GEE

Members of the USC Urban Trees Initiative visit the neighborhood around Bethune Middle School.

PHOTO BY STEVE COHN

Barnet Kellman Donates Archives

Artifacts from popular TV shows of the 1980s to the early 2000s shed light on a dynamic industry.

Barnet Kellman’s office in the USC School of Cinematic Arts looks like a television set. That’s not surprising considering that Kellman, who teaches in the Film and Television Production division, has had a celebrated directing career in TV and is a renowned pilot specialist. He has directed dozens of first episodes and launched TV shows that include Murphy Brown, Mad About You, Suddenly Susan, George Lopez and Something Wilder

Now, Kellman is donating collectibles from his 30-year career to the School of Cinematic Arts archives. Among the items are on-set photography from the shows; artifacts from Murphy Brown’s 10-year run, including when Vice President Dan Quayle

criticized Murphy’s single motherhood and set off a media storm; scripts; and other swag.

Kellman, who holds the Robin Williams Endowed Chair in Comedy, came to the School of Cinematic Arts during the 2007-2008 Writers Guild strike and eventually transitioned to teaching full time. Along with Professors David Isaacs and Jack Epps, he launched USC Comedy, the first comprehensive program in teaching comedy for the screen.

Kellman also created School of Cinematic Arts’ popular class in directing comedy, for which he is now writing a textbook manual one that he says is badly needed. “My class has become a testing ground and laboratory in communicating about comedy,” he adds.

School of Dramatic Arts Building Named for

Dick Wolf

Dick Wolf, the Emmy-winning creator/pro-

in television (Law & Order), is supporting the next generation of young artists and creative entrepreneurs with a significant contribution to the USC School of Dramatic Arts. In recognition of his generosity, the School of Dramatic Arts’ recently renovated building has been renamed the Dick Wolf Drama Center.

He has relied on all his collections to pass on knowledge to his students over the years. Now, Kellman has realized just how many people could benefit from the “sophisticated hoarding” he has been doing for decades. “It turned out that some of the stuff that I thought of as being of least interest and of least value was actually, from a scholarship point of view, some of the rarest and most valuable.”

DESA PHILADELPHIA

Wolf is a two-time Emmy Award winner, a Grammy Award winner and a New York Times best-selling author. “Education has always been a priority for me and for Wolf Entertainment,” Wolf says. “It is my privilege to be associated with USC and this stateof-the-art facility. At Wolf Entertainment, we will have our eye on the next generation of talent to emerge from the School of Dramatic Arts.”

The Dick Wolf Drama Center is a complete reimagining of the former United University Church, a historic building at the University Park Campus. The 1930s-style architecture was retained, but the interior was completely redone. Students now have access to a professional development center where they can record auditions and collaborate with peers, an integrated media lab, recording studios and dressing rooms. The building also features two new theaters: the Sanctuary Theatre and the Stop Gap Theatre.

The building is part of the “arts corridor” along 34th Street, complementing the USC Thornton School of Music, the USC Kaufman S chool of Dance and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. USC STAFF

Barnet Kellman sits among his archives in his office.

Dick Wolf (left), USC President Carol Folt and School of Dramatic Arts Dean Emily Roxworthy celebrate the naming of the Dick Wolf Drama Center in April.

ducer and architect of the most successful brand

Hands-On Teaching for Better Learning

A partnership at 54th Street Elementary School is bringing Master of Arts in Teaching students and faculty into local classrooms. BY

ADRIANA MAESTAS

In many teacher education programs, it’s routine for college faculty to review video recordings of their teacher-candidate students to provide feedback. In 2022, the USC Rossier School of Education began a different program.

The USC-LAUSD Partnership School program simultaneously puts USC Rossier Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) students and faculty into local schools. Faculty can observe the teacher candidates in the classroom and gain a more complete understanding of the school dynamics and teacher-student interactions beyond video recordings.

The partnership benefits both USC students and LAUSD teachers by fostering a collaborative learning environment where feedback and professional development are

shared between USC faculty, MAT students and experienced teachers.

One successful example is the partnership with 54th Street Elementary School, a Title I K-6 school in South Los Angeles. MAT students co-teach lessons at the school while USC faculty observe and offer in-depth feedback, enhancing the connection between academic theories and practical classroom dynamics.

Eugenia Mora-Flores, assistant dean of teacher education, says, “Being in the classroom as a faculty member with the MAT students and the LAUSD teacher allowed me to see other things that I would have missed just watching our students on camera.”

The sessions have resulted in noticeable improvements in instructional practices at 54th Street, contributing to the school’s academic

growth, including a rise in test scores and removal from Tier III status within LAUSD. It has also strengthened connections between USC Rossier and neighboring communities.

The partnership’s success has led to an expansion of the program, with more teachers participating. A collaboration with the USC Viterbi School of Engineering for after-school engineering classes for the 54th Street students is also in the works.

Esthefany Salazar MAT ’23, now a thirdgrade teacher at City Language Immersion Charter School in Los Angeles, says her experience was enlightening: “We could directly reference what we saw in the elementary school classrooms with the theories we were learning in the MAT program, reinforcing what we were learning at USC.”

PHOTO BY EUGENIA MORA-FLORES

A MAT student teaches alongside a teacher at 54th Street Elementary School.

IN FULL BLOOM

After six years of visionary leadership, Carol Folt is retiring as USC’s 12th president. The bold “moonshots” and initiatives she’s introduced have positioned USC as a leader in research, technology, health, athletics, innovation and more.

BY RACHEL B. LEVIN

PHOTOGRAPH BY ART STREIBER

ON A CRISP, BRIGHT

MORNING IN MARCH 2019, CAROL FOLT HIKED THROUGH LOS ANGELES’ GRIFFITH PARK AND FOUND HERSELF IMMERSED IN A RARE SUPERBLOOM.

“Stretched across the bright green hills was a carpet of wildflowers — red, blue, orange and purple — patches of color swaying in the breeze,” Folt recalls.

The world-renowned environmental scientist marveled at the oncein-a-decade event, brought on by the year’s heavy winter rains. “It’s renewal, it’s evolution,” Folt says. “You go from dark earth to the raising of all these flowers.”

Forty-eight hours later, the USC Board of Trustees named Folt as USC’s 12th president — the unanimous selection of a search committee that interviewed more than 100 candidates.

Folt, who had just left the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after more than five years as its chancellor, saw synergy between the ribbons of color in the hills and the role she was called to at USC. “Universities create the environment for our students and discoveries to bloom,” Folt says. “We are the soil, the water — and we grow the future.”

Now, as Folt prepares to retire from the USC presidency on June 30

after a six-year tenure, the superbloom is an apt metaphor for her bold initiatives coming to fruition.

Her six “moonshot” goals have helped USC blossom as a leader in advanced computing, sustainability, health sciences, affordability and more. Fundraising under Folt has increased markedly from $602 million in fiscal year 2019 to $802 million this fiscal year. A new crop of LEED-certified buildings and collaborative spaces on the USC University Park Campus; the launch of the USC Capital Campus in Washington, D.C.; and USC’s first new school in a decade — the USC School of Advanced Computing, housed in the new Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Human-Centered Computation Hall — are concrete manifestations of her vision for growth. These accomplishments are firmly rooted in the culture of “excellence at scale” she has cultivated.

One of the pillars of Folt’s tenure has been placing students at the center of her decision-making in both academics and athletics. She was instrumental in the university’s bold move — announced in 2022 and completed in 2024 — from the Pac-12 Conference to the Big Ten Conference. Membership in the Big Ten bolstered financial support for USC student-athletes and expanded opportunities for them to compete at the highest level. Her courageous leadership positioned USC for long-term success and stability amid the seismic changes that followed in the sports media and collegiate athletic landscapes.

“Carol’s leadership through difficult challenges, as well as her keen strategic eye toward the future that has helped her launch groundbreaking initiatives, will benefit generations of future Trojans,” says Suzanne Nora Johnson, chair of the USC Board of Trustees.

RIGHT LEADER, RIGHT TIME

Throughout Folt’s university leadership career — which spans 24 years — one of her guiding principles has been that everyone deserves an equal chance to better themselves and their community through higher education.

“I believe deeply in the power of education and exploration to change individual lives,” Folt says. “I’ve lived it.”

Folt grew up in Akron, Ohio, and came to California seeking adventure after attending Ohio State University for one year. She enrolled at Santa Barbara City College, later transferring to the University of California, Santa Barbara, where courses in biology and forays into the region’s streams and wetlands ignited her fascination with environmental science.

To pay for tuition and rent, she waitressed 20 to 30 hours a week at a seafood restaurant on the wharf. Her ambition reflected her outlook growing up as one of five children in a big family that included her mother’s parents, who were hard-working immigrants from Albania. Her mom and dad were both chemists who met at the B.F. Goodrich Co. in Ohio.

“We were raised with that immigrant perspective: You come here, you work hard — and education is important,” Folt says.

After college, she earned a doctorate in ecology at the University of

PHOTO BY STEVE COHN

California, Davis. At Dartmouth College, she became a professor of biological sciences and balanced research and teaching with parenting. She and her husband, David Peart — now an emeritus professor of biological sciences at Dartmouth — have two children, Noah and Tessa, and two granddaughters. Folt rose through administrative roles at Dartmouth to become provost and then acting president. In 2013, UNC-Chapel Hill named her its chancellor.

As chancellor, Folt developed the university’s first strategic plan and led a $4.25 billion fundraising campaign — the largest and most successful in UNC-Chapel Hill’s history. Federally funded research climbed every year during her tenure. She helped the university deftly navigate challenging investigations by the NCAA and the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The more than 70 reforms she implemented to ensure accountability and integrity across the university included restructuring and modernizing the human resources and Title IX offices.

Folt also led several initiatives to address concerns over the university’s complicated past. She took on the renaming of a building and grappled with a conflict over Silent Sam, a Confederate statue on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus that many students deemed racist but whose supporters wanted to protect as a memorial to the state’s Civil War dead. After protesters toppled the statue, Folt ordered the removal of the statue’s pedestal, basing her decision on the safety of the campus. At the same time, she announced she would resign as chancellor; she left in January 2019.

“During her years as chancellor, I came to know her as a visionary leader and a highly respected thought leader in higher education,” says Kevin Guskiewicz, president of Michigan State University, who served as dean of the UNC-Chapel Hill College of Arts and Sciences while Folt was chancellor and succeeded her in the role. “I admired that she never shied away from making difficult decisions.”

At the time, Folt had already applied for the USC president role.

Given the criticism she faced in North Carolina over the pedestal’s removal, Folt offered to withdraw her USC candidacy. But her ability to confront difficult issues with candor impressed the USC Presidential Search Advisory Committee at a time when the university was coming to terms with national admissions fraud issues and a class-action lawsuit involving hundreds of patients who accused a former USC student health gynecologist of sexual misconduct.

The 23 members of the search committee all agreed that Folt was the right person to lead USC at the right time. On July 1, 2019, she became the first woman to permanently serve as USC president after taking the reins from interim President and USC Trustee Wanda M. Austin.

OPENING THE DOOR WIDER

At UNC-Chapel Hill, “Carol often reminded us — faculty and deans — that we were here for the students,” Guskiewicz says. “Student success was front and center in all of her communications.”

The same has been true at USC. Her student-centered focus has been felt in everything from remodeled cultural spaces in the Student Union to her efforts to expand accessibility and affordability. Folt’s background as a former transfer student who balanced work and school motivated her to “open the door wider to make a USC education possible for talented students from all walks of life,” she says.

A cornerstone of her tenure has been advancing initiatives to increase accessibility and affordability. One

“During her years as chancellor, I came to know her as a visionary leader and a highly respected thought leader in higher education.”

— KEVIN GUSKIEWICZ

Students have been a central focus of USC President Carol Folt’s presidency from the beginning of her tenure; at her 2019 inauguration, she even stopped to take a few photos with them during the celebration.

of her first major moves at USC, announced in February 2020, was eliminating tuition for students whose families earn $80,000 or less annually. A related policy excluded homeownership from the calculation used to determine a student’s financial need. About 6,000 undergraduates per year have benefited from this program.

She also committed to significantly expanding financial aid for USC’s transfer students and funding for graduate students. Under Folt’s leadership, fundraising for scholarship support has grown from $80 million in fiscal year 2019 to $126 million this fiscal year.

“These actions have really increased the breadth of applications to USC,” Folt says, noting that admission is at a historic high. “It has put us on equal footing with the most prestigious universities in the world that have very strong financial support.”

A STEADY HAND DURING COVID-19

Just weeks after Folt launched the Affordability Initiative, the World Health Organization declared COVID19 a pandemic. Still a relative newcomer to USC, Folt faced the challenge of steering the university through the crisis by drawing upon her deep well of leadership experience and personal grit.

“Impediments have to be viewed as opportunities,” Folt says. “You make a change, you do a pivot, you open a door. You cultivate a ‘beginner’s mind,’ seeing optimism and possibility — instead of fear — in the unknown.”

More than 6,000 courses were quickly reimagined and delivered remotely. Folt helped unite USC’s campus and community — while maintaining safety protocols — to make sure that the educational, medical and community-driven missions continued. Her administration introduced COVID-19 Research and Innovation Funds to support USC researchers in developing drugs and vaccines, studying the pandemic’s social impact and more. In partnership with Keck Medicine of USC, USC launched the Care for the Caregiver program, which provided housing for USC and L.A. County health care workers on the frontlines of treating COVID19 patients.

“COVID brought forth so much innovation, caring and community at USC, of which I am immensely proud,” Folt says.

In 2021, as the pandemic continued to make large public gatherings risky, Folt insisted on finding a way to safely offer USC’s graduating students

“Impediments have to be viewed as opportunities. You make a change, you do a pivot, you open a door. You cultivate a ‘beginner’s mind,’ seeing optimism and possibility — instead of fear — in the unknown.”

— CAROL FOLT

the experience of an in-person commencement ceremony — “one of the most cherished memories in a student’s academic life,” she says. Working within public health guidelines, USC hosted 14 graduation ceremonies in seven days at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Folt, famous for her boundless energy, attended all of them.

Numerous students and families said they appreciated the opportunity

2019 2020

MARCH 2019

Folt selected by USC Board of Trustees as USC’s 12th president

JULY 2019

Folt begins her tenure as president

SEPTEMBER 2019

Folt’s zero-waste inauguration ceremony and launch of Presidential Working Group on Sustainability

OCTOBER 2019

The new Iovine and Young Hall opens

FEBRUARY 2020

Affordability initiative announced (free tuition for students from families earning less than $80,000)

MARCH 2020

Folt moves university to remote learning when COVID-19 pandemic announced

APRIL 2020

Care for the Caregiver program launched

$80K

PHOTOS BY STEVE COHN, GUS RUELAS AND DAVID SPRAGUE

to experience graduation in person — including one student who said that she was seated close enough to the stage to make eye contact with Folt, a special moment within her triumphant day.

RESTORING TRUST IN THE MISSION

Folt’s ability to find opportunities within obstacles helped USC resolve legal problems and restore a tarnished reputation. She propelled the ongoing Culture Journey forward, emphasizing USC’s six unifying values supporting its mission. She also tripled the number of mental health counselors for students and took other actions to ensure the safety and well-being of the USC community.

Her leadership also helped USC rectify deeply painful episodes in its history. In April 2022, she conferred posthumous degrees upon Japanese American USC students of the Nisei generation (born in the United States to parents who immigrated from Japan) who were forced into detention during World War II and barred from returning to campus after the war. A granddaughter of one of these USC Nisei students wrote a letter to Folt, saying that she could not begin to describe how meaningful the

2021

MARCH 2021

tribute was to her and her family. “It has brought so much peace to a piece of my heart,” she said. Folt also dedicated the USC Nisei Rock Garden at the University Park Campus as a tribute to these students.

“My own experiences have taught me that a powerful way to avoid repeating injustice is by admitting it, remembering it and correcting it,” Folt says.

She spearheaded the renaming of two USC landmarks previously named for divisive figures. In November 2021, USC announced that the Von KleinSmid Center would be renamed to honor Joseph Medicine Crow, the late Native American historian and renowned Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation chief, who earned his master’s degree at USC. In January 2023, the university named the home of USC track and field for 11-time Olympic medalist and alumna Allyson Felix.

“A great university like ours should have an arc of purpose that encompasses learning from, remembering and reckoning with our past — while at the same time striving, innovating and building a better, more equitable future,” Folt says.

SHOOTING FOR THE MOON

As Folt looked ahead, she worked with deans across the university to develop

The Presidential Medallion is awarded to all USC staff, faculty and health care professionals for their extraordinary efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic

MAY 2021

USC hosts 14 commencement ceremonies in seven days at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

NOVEMBER 2021

Naming of Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow Center for International and Public Affairs (building dedicated April 2022)

a strategic framework for an ambitious objective: positioning USC as an international leader for innovation and preeminence at scale. Recognizing the unparalleled resources of USC’s 23 schools, she dubbed USC the “school of schools” for its size, scale and breadth. She declared the 2020s “the decade of collaboration on warp speed, the decade we eliminate barriers between disciplines and build bridges.”

In 2022, Folt launched what would become a centerpiece of her presidency: moonshot goals intended to propel the university forward across disciplines. The first three moonshots included what came to be called USC Competes, aimed at recruiting and retaining the nation’s best and brightest students, faculty and staff; Health Sciences 3.0, aligning USC’s health system and five health sciences schools to catalyze research and develop new models of care; and Frontiers of Computing, to accelerate research and innovation in advanced computing with a focus on ethical considerations. Later, she would add three more moonshots that formalized initiatives she had been working on since her arrival in 2019 — goals with deep personal resonance.

As an environmental scientist, Folt made her name through research

2022

FEBRUARY 2022

USC joins the U.S. Space Force’s University Partnership Program

APRIL 2022

Nisei degrees posthumously conferred and USC Nisei Rock Garden dedicated.

APRIL 2022

Folt launches the first three “moonshots”

on climate change, salmon conservation and mercury and arsenic in water. In September 2019, she launched an interdisciplinary Presidential Working Group on Sustainability in Education, Research, and Operations geared toward lowering the carbon, water and waste footprints of USC campuses. The Sustainability moonshot expanded that vision to integrate sustainability into campuswide education, research, operations and community outreach.

“President Folt’s commitment to sustainability has been unwavering,” says Dan Mazmanian, emeritus professor of public policy at the USC Price School of Public Policy and the inaugural chair of the Presidential Working Group on Sustainability in Education, Research, and Operations. “Less recognized is the significant effort this required in fostering collaboration of faculty, students and administrators in pursuit of common purpose.”

A former advisor to the female student-athletes at Dartmouth College, Folt is regarded by her peers as a thought leader in college athletics. She has been a champion of USC Athletics since the outset — and a spirited spectator at Trojan games. Student-athletes love that the president attends their games, wearing Trojan

gear (invariably wearing cardinal and gold sneakers) and cheering them on. The Reimagining Athletics moonshot prioritized building a stronger athletics program with transformed facilities. Her decision to move USC to the Big Ten Conference dramatically increased USC’s national profile.

“Our coaches are really grateful to Dr. Folt for her commitment, her vision and her steadfastness in supporting our programs and the investment that she made,” says Jen Cohen, USC’s director of athletics. “Our coaches know that they’re cared for, not just by me, not just by the athletic department, not just by fans, but by the president of the university. And that makes a huge statement to our coaches, to our student-athletes, to our fans and our future students.”

In college, Folt studied studio art before switching her major to biological sciences, and in her life and work as a scientist, the arts continued to profoundly influence her. With the USC Arts Now moonshot, launched in November 2024, she envisioned collaborations at the intersection of art, science and more. The initiative has ignited partnerships among USC’s six conservatory-level arts schools and connected the arts to all disciplines at the university’s campuses.

In addition to strengthening cooperation across the university, the moonshot framework has helped boost philanthropy in key areas. The $1 billion-plus Frontiers of Computing initiative began when Folt reimagined a $260 million lead gift from the Lord Foundation of California. Fundraising for the health sciences has jumped from $82 million in fiscal year 2019 to $231 million this fiscal year, while athletics fundraising during the same period has increased from $43 million to $61 million.

AN EXPANSIVE IMPACT

Rick Caruso, who was chair of the USC Board of Trustees when Folt was hired, characterizes Folt’s contributions to USC as meaningful and lasting. “Carol’s ability and experience to manage a highly complex organization with multiple constituents is profound,” Caruso says. “There is no doubt that she will be remembered as one of the finest presidents in the history of USC [and] as one of the premier leaders in all of higher education.”

Examples of USC’s “preeminence at scale” now abound: Research expenditures have grown 44% since 2019 and topped $1 billion for the first time in 2023. In that same year,

2023 2024

JANUARY 2023

Naming of Allyson Felix Field (event hosted April 2023)

FEBRUARY 2023

The USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences named — as well as the Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering in April

MARCH 2023

USC Capital Campus opens in Washington, D.C.

SEPTEMBER 2023

Sustainability Hub opens

JANUARY 2024

Folt leads “USC-India: Partner the Future” delegation to India

FEBRUARY 2024

USC earns a gold rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education

FEBRUARY 2024

The USC School of Advanced Computing launches

PHOTOS BY ERIK VAN LEEUWEN, GUS RUELAS, DILIFF (CC3.0), STARS, CHAWLA STUDIO AND STEVE COHN

USC established its world-class Capital Campus in Washington, D.C. It was Folt’s vision for USC to have an influential presence in the nexus of government where students and faculty can collaborate with policymakers and newsmakers to address and create solutions to complex problems. In 2024, the university received a gold rating for its sustainability efforts from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. In October, the women’s soccer team became the first to win a Big Ten crown for any USC sport.

“I hope when people think of USC, they’ll think of a place where there is excellence in ‘everything, everywhere, all at once,’” Folt says, alluding to the 2022 film of the same name.

Folt herself seems to have been everywhere all at once during her tenure. Those who have worked alongside her note how much she loves to get out of the office to talk with students, faculty and staff and gather with groups. On any given day, you might find Folt cheering on Trojan student-athletes at a lacrosse game, dancing alongside students at cultural events, traveling to promote USC in India, speaking at an alumni conference or a class, or attending a faculty meeting.

MARCH 2024

Folt awards the University Medallion to survivors of the Holocaust who shared their testimony with the USC Shoah Foundation

AUGUST 2024

USC joins the Big Ten Conference (announced June 2022)

SEPTEMBER 2024

Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Human-Centered Computation Hall opens

“I learned early on that being warm and friendly doesn’t make you less successful,” says Folt, who has aimed to “spark kinetic energy” and “cultivate creativity, joy and kindness” within the USC community. After she retires as USC president, she’ll remain part of the community as a faculty member with appointments in biological sciences, civil and environmental engineering, and population and public health sciences.

“Carol was hired at one of the most important moments in USC’s history ... and her dedication to the Trojan Family as her North Star has been on display throughout

JANUARY 2025

Trojan Family Relief Fund launches to benefit faculty, staff and students displaced by Los Angeles-area wildfires

JULY 2025

Folt retires after six visionary years as USC president

“Carol was hired at one of the most important moments in USC’s history, and her leadership skills, innate ability to connect with students and her dedication to the Trojan Family as her North Star have been on display throughout her tenure,” Nora Johnson says.

In January, when wildfires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena displaced around 150,000 people from their homes — USC faculty, staff and students among them — Folt and the USC Board of Trustees acted quickly to shore up community support. While the fires were still burning, they launched the Trojan Family Relief Fund to aid Trojans in need.

Many of the Los Angeles hills carpeted with flowers during the 2019 superbloom are now scorched by wildfire flames. But Folt sees resilience in the landscape — fire can trigger the germination of dormant seeds in the soil — and in the university community she’s helped strengthen for the past six years.

“There is hope, renewal, the endless cycle of life, through good times and bad — and the strong, diverse, and magnificent seed bank reservoir that is our Trojan Family,” she says.

MISSION: POSSIBLE MISSION:

by CHINYERE

WHEN USC PRESIDENT CAROL FOLT OUTLINED HER AMBITIOUS “MOONSHOT” PLANS, SHE KNEW THEY WOULD MAKE USC A TOP DESTINATION FOR STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF SEEKING PURPOSE-DRIVEN WORK, COLLABORATIVE LEARNING AND INNOVATIVE DISCOVERY.

CINDY AMOBI illustrations by DANIELE SIMONELLI

USC

President Carol Folt shared her vision for her “moonshots” at her first in-person State of the University address in 2022: “I see these as bold, comprehensive strategies for cross-institution collaboration in key areas.” By creating the roadmap for USC’s future and leveraging its unrivaled scale, size, breadth and excellence, Folt has set the university on the path to becoming America’s “school of schools.” Read on to learn just how much these ambitious initiatives have achieved.

FRONTIERS OF COMPUTING

“The wor ld needs engineers and computer scientists to solve the grand challenges we face. The new school will tackle this goal by developing reimagined engineering curricula that also emphasize the ethics of technology in our fast-changing world.”

— Dean of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering

Yannis C. Yortsos

The USC Frontiers of Computing initiative is a $1 billion-plus investment that builds on USC’s 50-year legacy of innovation, leveraging its leadership role in advanced computing research in artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science. It positions the university as an incubator for talent that can apply hightech solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. The initiative calls for an infusion of artificial intelligence into all of the university’s schools to spark innovation, creativity and collaboration for the good of society.

ɕ The university launched its 23rd school, the USC School of Advanced Computing, within the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. USC also plans a bigger footprint in Silicon Beach in the West L.A. area. Its offerings will also emphasize the importance of the ethics of technology, especially in the field of AI.

ɕ USC is the No. 1 research university in the country in overall computer science degrees conferred

ɕ The initial $260 million investment for the moonshot included funds to hire new faculty, made possible because Folt reimagined a gift from the Lord Foundation of California; the Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering was thus renamed.

ɕ The USC Center for Generative AI and Society launched in 2023 to focus on USC’s leadership in the ethical use of generative AI in disparate disciplines — even the arts and education.

ɕ USC + Amazon Center on Secure and Trusted Machine Learning supports research and new approaches to machine learning privacy and security.

ɕ Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Human-Centered Computation Hall houses the Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science and the USC School of Advanced Computing.

ɕ The USC Marshall School of Business launched the Business of Blockchain Initiative to accelerate research, teaching and industry engagement in the field.

ɕ Andrew Viterbi gave the USC School of Advanced Computing $10 million for the hiring of faculty and distinguished chairs

ɕ The School of Advanced Computing created an endowed chair in computer science and health, made possible by a $5 million gift from entrepreneur and philanthropist Mark A. Kolokotrones.

HEALTH SCIENCES 3.0

“We ar e realizing the future of medicine with research-based inputs combined with AI, brilliant minds and compassionate caregivers to deliver tomorrow’s medicine today.”

— USC Senior Vice President for Health Affairs

Steven Shapiro

Through the Health Sciences 3.0 moonshot, Folt created the Office of Health Affairs and hired physician-scientist

Steven Shapiro as the first senior vice president for health affairs to supercharge collaboration among USC’s five health schools and its academic medical system, Keck Medicine of USC. The initiative also takes advantage of the AI revolution and collaborative care to overcome the greatest challenge of health care: providing improved outcomes at an affordable price.

By catalyzing groundbreaking, team-based research and education — in varied fields such as oncology, Alzheimer’s, aging, cardiac care and artificial intelligence — to tackle health care’s biggest challenges, the university’s health system has transformed care for USC’s surrounding communities and patients worldwide.

ɕ The USC health enterprise saw significant growth during Folt’s tenure, including an eastward expansion with the 2022 acquisition of USC Arcadia Hospital in the San Gabriel Valley, transplant clinics in Las Vegas, and new clinical locations in Pasadena.

ɕ In 2022, Folt directed $50 million from the Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Biomedical Engineering gift to name the USC Mann pharmacy school and $35 million to name the Mann department of biomedical engineering.

ɕ A $50 million joint gift to USC and the University of California, San Diego, from the Epstein Family Foundation

in 2022 supports existing Alzheimer’s research and accelerates collaborative efforts to discover effective therapies and a cure. The donation established the Epstein Family Alzheimer’s Research Collaboration at both universities and enabled the creation of the USC Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute.

ɕ In 2024, the Weise family gave the Glendale Eye Medical Group to the USC Roski Eye Institute, expanding USC eye care services in the area. The gift established USC Roski Eye Institute-Glendale and brought six new faculty members to the institute, including ophthalmologists specializing in glaucoma, retina and comprehensive eye care, as well as three optometrists.

ɕ Leonard D. Schaeffer and his wife, Pamela, have donated $59 million to establish the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service, which will expand two outstanding programs — the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics and the Leonard D. Schaeffer Fellows in Government Service.

ɕ A $10 million gift from USC Trustee Mark Stevens and Mary Stevens, his wife, established the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Center for Orthobiologics to accelerate research into treatments for arthritis and joint injuries.

SUSTAINABILITY

“As an anc hor institution in L.A. with global reach and impact, USC has an opportunity and obligation to research and develop interdisciplinary sustainable solutions, to equip students with the tools to weave those solutions throughout society in their chosen field, and to practice those solutions within our own campuses.”

— USC Chief Sustainability Officer Mick Dalrymple

USC’s Sustainability moonshot marshals the university’s research, teaching and community engagement efforts to create a healthy, just and thriving world.

USC has made substantial progress on sustainability since Folt became president in 2019. The president also created the Presidential Working Group on Sustainability in Education, Research, and Operations and hired the university’s first chief sustainability officer, Mick Dalrymple, in 2021 to optimize and grow the university’s sustainability efforts through collaboration across the USC community.

Folt’s campaign, Assignment: Earth, serves as a blueprint for action on sustainability across the university and promotes a more sustainable future.

ɕ USC announced a new curriculum initiative designed to incorporate sustainability across disciplines. The university now offers more than 840 sustainability-related courses.

ɕ When USC groundskeepers switched to electric-powered mowers, leaf blowers, hedge trimmers and chainsaws, the American Green Zone Alliance certified the

USC University Park Campus as a “green zone” — the first campus in the country to earn the honor.

ɕ In 2022, USC banned single-use plastic beverage bottles, keeping more than 5 million bottles out of landfills to date. Instead, Trojans fill up via hydration stations, water coolers/dispensers and water fountains.

ɕ A new 1,500-square-foot Sustainability Hub at the University Park Campus opened in 2023 to become home to Assignment: Earth and other sustainability projects. It was also where the inaugural Presidential Sustainability Fellows were announced — postdoctoral researchers who pursue multidisciplinary projects and work out of the hub.

ɕ The President’s Sustainability Internship Program currently provides 19 students with real-world work experience applying their classroom education to develop operational sustainability solutions using the USC campuses as living labs.

ɕ Every year starting in 2021, USC has earned a silver rating or higher in its Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) report, a benchmark for more than 1,000 U.S. colleges and universities, tracking how institutions address the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainability. USC earned a gold rating in 2024.

ɕ Keck Medicine of USC practitioners have overhauled procedures in operating rooms to significantly reduce the use of anesthetics that harm the environment and replace disposable devices and materials with reusable alternatives when possible.

ɕ USC professors not only study sustainable solutions but have also incorporated more sustainable processes, materials and equipment into their work. This includes techniques by scientists at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences to make chemical research labs greener and more energy efficient by using safer chemicals, preventing pollution and properly disposing of waste.

ɕ The USC Urban Trees Initiative, with support from the Bezos Earth Fund, brings the Trojan community together to make strategic decisions about building a resilient urban forest in L.A. (see p. 14 for more).

ɕ USC decreased water usage by 25% by installing meters at the University Park and Health Sciences campuses and fixing leaks on a quicker timeline.

ɕ USC has reduced greenhouse gases on both campuses by 50% since 2014.

ɕ USC has increased campuswide waste diversion to 54%; USC Hospitality has increased the amount of food purchased from sustainable sources to 55%; and the university reduced its lighting load by 60% by switching to energy-efficient LED lighting.

ɕ In 2024, the USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability received a $4 million commitment from Ballmer Group to launch a new initiative focused on climate and carbon management.

REIMAGINING ATHLETICS

“Being a membe r of the Big Ten will enable us to further invest in the student-athlete experience by providing us with additional resources; to create exciting new rivalries with like-minded institutions; to celebrate and share our storied traditions with Trojans across the country and with new generations of fans; and to provide our student-athletes and university with unprecedented national exposure and opportunities.”

— USC Athletic Director Jen Cohen

The Reimagining Athletics moonshot empowers student-athletes across the university’s 23 sports programs to compete with integrity at the highest level athletically and in the classroom. The initiative — which builds on the current success of Trojan athletic programs — aims to improve USC’s facilities and maximize space use through innovative planning. Under Folt, USC has experienced its most transformational era of investment in athletics facilities upgrades in the university’s history.

ɕ The moonshot was announced as the university made its historic move to the Big Ten Conference in 2024, which meant additional resources and nationwide exposure for Trojans.

ɕ Faculty, staff and students now benefit from being part of the 18-member Big Ten Academic Alliance, which facilitates the sharing of resources, infrastructure and expertise.

ɕ The moonshot has provided first-in-class academic support through key hires, doubled the number of sport psychology clinicians, integrated athletic medicine through Keck Medicine of USC and improved nutritional offerings given to student-athletes. The university also launched the Trojan Enrichment Program, which allows the maximum amount of education-related financial support to all student-athletes.

ɕ USC’s student-athlete g raduation success rate was 94% in 2024, the highest in school history. Thirteen of the university’s sports programs had a rate of 100% during that time.

ɕ Colich Track and Field Center opened in 2021 as the new home of the men’s and women’s track and field programs, including a Hall of Fame showcasing the programs’ impressive success in NCAA championships and the Olympics.

ɕ Allyson Felix Field was renamed in 2023 (see p. 47 for more).

ɕ Rawlinson Stadium was established for the USC women’s lacrosse and soccer teams in 2023 after a gift from the Fritz B. Burns Foundation was paired with support from Folt’s presidential fund and other donors.

ɕ USC completed an 18-month, $315 million renovation of the L.A. Memorial Coliseum during Folt’s tenure. The significant remodeling includes a state-of-the-art press box, new seats throughout the stadium and an updated locker room for the home team.

ɕ A $50 million gift from the Ronald H. Bloom family in late 2024 brought investments in athletics facilities during Folt’s presidency to more than $200 million so far. The gift will fund the Bloom Football Performance Center (see p. 2 for more).

ɕ Folt commissioned a makeover of the Galen Center in 2024 to enhance the game day experience.

ɕ Dedeaux Field, the home of USC baseball, will see significant enhancements, including upgraded capacity, a team meeting space, a brand-new press box, coaching and support staff offices, and fan experience enhancements.

ɕ The John McKay Center will receive future innovations for all student-athletes, including an expanded dining facility and an upgraded golf practice facility.

USC COMPETES

“We st art with our overarching goal — to increase the stature and impact of USC, by making USC the international standard-bearer and innovator for collaborative learning and discovery, and making USC the top choice for students, faculty and staff who seek purpose-driven work and lives.”

— USC President Carol Folt at the 2022 State of the University address

The USC Competes moonshot allows USC to recruit, retain and support students, faculty and staff. By becoming a national leader in accessibility, affordability and debt reduction, the university can draw the best and brightest students to thrive and reach their academic, professional and personal dreams. USC Competes also encapsulates the university’s goal to lead in progress and innovation.

ɕ Within three months of her tenure at USC, Folt established her Affordability Initiative (see p. 32 for more).

ɕ In the last six years, USC saw 69 faculty inducted into the national academies of medicine, engineering, sciences, inventors and education, as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

ɕ In 2023, the university launched Advise USC, which enables all academic advisors across USC’s 23 schools to use the same system, ensuring students receive consistent guidance throughout their time at USC.

ɕ The President’s High-Tech Scholars Program, which was launched with support from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, as well as Oscar Munoz and Kathy Leventhal, helps tech-interested transfer students from local community colleges thrive at USC through developmental opportunities such as mentorship and a Summer Launchpad Program to support the transition to a four-year university.

ɕ The university launched the Care for the Caregiver program during the COVID-19 pandemic to offer safe places for people to stay while working long hours. This program still exists and provided safety for some Trojans during the January 2025 wildfires.

ɕ The USC Capital Campus expanded the university’s presence and influence in Washington, D.C., in 2023, allowing Trojan students, researchers and alumni to connect and build relationships with the country’s decision-makers. USC has already hosted more than 300 events and conferences since it opened the 60,000-square-foot building.

ɕ Also in 2023, the university joined an ex clusive group of just 13 private universities nationwide to surpass $1 billion in annual research expenditures . Folt said during her March 2023 State of the University address that the university has experienced a 44% growth in research spending since 2019, amounting to $1.26 billion in 2024 — a historic high for USC.

ɕ In 2024, Folt led a USC delegation on a three-city tour of India, dubbed “USC-India: Partner the Future” (see p. 46 for more).

USC ARTS NOW INITIATIVE

“USC Ar ts Now focuses on the arts as an interface, as a place of connection between different bodies of thought, different systems of knowing and different disciplines in different fields.”

— USC Vice Provost for the Arts Josh Kun

For decades, faculty, staff and students at USC’s six conservatory-level arts schools and its two museums have contributed to a vibrant environment of creative expression on campus. In 2024, Folt launched the USC Arts Now moonshot to support new, unexpected collaborations throughout the university and connect the arts to every discipline across USC’s campuses.

She also named Josh Kun, professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and chair in cross-cultural communication, as USC’s inaugural vice provost for the arts, working with USC’s arts deans and USC Museums on partnerships and collaborations across campuses and the greater Los Angeles community that activate the arts and raise Trojan visibility.

ɕ Leaders from USC’s arts schools and museums form the backbone of the USC Arts Council to inform the direction of the USC Arts Now initiative. Leaders from the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the USC Center for Generative AI and Society and the USC Arts and Climate Collective are also part of the council.

ɕ Last year, Kun worked with the Keck School of Medicine to bring USC deans and faculty together to explore collaborations between the arts and health sciences

ɕ In 2024, the USC Arts Now initiative held “Beyond the Human?: From the Metaphysical to the Physical,” co-curated by Kun and renowned artist Cai Guo-Qiang. USC Visions and Voices and the USC Center for Generative AI and Society co-sponsored the event.

ɕ In November, Emmy-winning producer Dick Wolf gave a significant contribution to the USC School of Dramatic Arts (See p. 15 for more).

ɕ In April, USC Arts Now and the USC Thornton School of Music presented a symposium on the pivotal role artists play in responding to crises such as the Los Angeles wildfires.

Putting Students FIRST

USC President Carol Folt’s student-centric approach has been at the heart of her six years leading the university.

BY GREG HERNANDEZ

President Carol Folt takes a group shot with McCarthy Honors Residential College students during movein day in 2019.

it was almost Brianna Sanchez’s turn to deliver a speech to comfort and inspire an audience at the spring 2025 new student convocation. But Sanchez, USC undergraduate student government president, needed some inspiration herself.

She found it that February day in USC President Carol Folt, who first addressed the packed Bovard Auditorium at USC’s University Park Campus.

“She has this incredible ability to make people feel at ease and valued,” says Sanchez, a senior majoring in legal studies at the USC Gould School of Law. “Her inspiring words and genuine enthusiasm for my contributions created a supportive atmosphere that empowered me to share my thoughts.”

A personal touch, a genuine interest in students and a gift for connection have been constants throughout Folt’s countless interactions with students during her six-year tenure as president of USC. She has brought that same energy to creating a host of initiatives that tangibly enhance the student experience at the university.

students at campus events or sports competitions. She seizes these moments to engage and ask questions — many of them — about any Trojan’s major, interests, background or special project they are involved in.

Indeed, that connection with students is not unique to Folt’s time at USC.

“Not a lot of presidents and chancellors show up in the way she shows up,” says Houston Summers, a former student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where Folt was chancellor from 2013-2019. “She has the ability to give you straight feedback but in a way that you know that she cares about you.”

Folt’s interactions also include making surprise visits during students’ move-in days at residential colleges and personally serving pizza to Trojans outside Leavey Library before the start of finals.

Putting students first is a central pillar of Folt’s presidency. Every one of her six ambitious “moonshot” goals places students at the center, making USC a national leader in student access and success. In addition, she spearheaded moves to significantly increase student mental health services, upgraded advising services and made safety a priority on both campuses.

The chief ambassador for all these student-facing initiatives has been Folt herself. During the pandemic, Folt challenged her team to create hundreds of events to provide a connected campus for students who were learning and living remotely. She even held socially distanced in-person commencement ceremonies — 14 such events over seven days — because she said that students needed the experience.

“I am student-centered,” she said at the annual Women’s Conference in March. “They are the driver of my mission in higher education.”

Folt’s students-first approach can be seen throughout her six years of accomplishments.

When she opened a new Capital Campus in Washington, D.C., Folt said she wanted to triple the number of students who could attend courses there. During her tenure, undergraduate applications soared to the highest in USC history. Amid the January wildfires, Folt created the Trojan Family Relief Fund to provide money and support for students, faculty and staff who lost homes or were displaced.

She readily speaks at a student-sponsored event or a class, attends a dinner in a residence hall and poses for selfies with

A recent example: On a single Saturday this March, Folt visited the Trojan Dance Marathon at Tommy’s Place on the University Park Campus. Later that day, she cheered on both the USC men’s tennis team’s win against Purdue and the USC women’s water polo team’s victory over Indiana. This came after a whirlwind week in which she delivered two major State of the University speeches, spoke on two panels at the USC Women’s Conference and conducted an in-person interview with USC’s two student media outlets, among other meetings and events. Folt’s energy was, as always, unflagging.

“I just really appreciate her and her fun spirit,” says USC Vice President for Student Life Monique S. Allard, who accompanies Folt to many campus events. “She’s always looking to engage with students. She wants to share joy and create joy.”

EXPANDING ACCESS AND SPACES

An early example of Folt’s commitment to students is the affordability initiative she implemented just a few months into her tenure. Students from U.S. families with an annual income of $80,000 or less could now attend USC tuition-free. This initiative became a key element of what is now known as the USC Competes moonshot, which aims to make USC a destination of choice that attracts and retains the best and brightest.

“She’s always looking to engage with students.”

— MONIQUE S. ALLARD

Folt also launched the President’s High-Tech Scholars program in 2023, which offers scholarships and other supports to transfer students from community colleges who want to focus their studies on computing and technology. She also actively fundraises for other student scholarship programs.

“Her leadership in these areas changed how folks think about interactions with

USC President Carol Folt cheering on the Trojans during a clash against rivals Notre Dame in 2024.

students, support for students and the student experience from every angle,”

Allard says. “Students are first in everything that we do.”

Folt also literally reshaped student spaces at USC. She led a major renovation of the cultural centers that tripled the size of these spaces in the Gwynn Wilson Student Union building. The changes resulted in less-cluttered areas for Asian Pacific American Student Services; Latinx Chicanx Center for Advocacy and Student Affairs; and the LGBTQ+ Student and the Native American & Pasifika Student Lounges — spaces that are used by all USC students, and that have welcomed thousands more students after the renovations than in past years.

The idea for the new spaces began shortly after she first arrived at USC and saw firsthand the cramped, crowded conditions they had been using.

“We used to squeeze people together into one room, and you couldn’t get your arms up to say, ‘Fight On!’ at the end,” Folt said at the reopening celebration for the Asian Pacific American Student Services space.

“It was very, very tight. We needed bigger.”

'WE'RE GOING TO MISS YOU SO MUCH'

Student-athletes on USC’s men’s and women’s sports teams have become accustomed to seeing Folt cheering them on during weekend and weekday competitions during the past six years.

“She has this incredible ability to make people feel at ease and valued.”

BRIANNA SANCHEZ, USC STUDENT GOVERNMENT PRESIDENT

She also created the First Generation Plus Success program at Ronald Tutor Campus Center, which serves firstgeneration students, transfer students and former foster youth, among others.

“It was such a significant investment of time, energy and attention, and the student utilization rates have skyrocketed,” Allard says. “Since then, students are definitely showing up in all those spaces.”

“From her early days here as president, she was very interested in visiting the spaces where students hang out, lounge, study and convene,” Allard says. “She wanted to visit everything, be everywhere, talk with students. She recognized from the start that we needed to expand and enhance student space.”

STUDENTS AND SUSTAINABILITY

Early in her tenure, Folt established a way for students to integrate their interest in sustainability with their academics by starting the President’s Sustainability Internship Program and the Presidential Working Group on Sustainability. In 2023, she also launched the Presidential Sustainability Solutions Fellowship, which allows Trojans to take on the planet’s multiple environmental crises through interdisciplinary research.

In the fall of 2023, Folt’s commitment to making sustainability central to the student experience led to the grand opening of the 1,500-square-foot USC Sustainability Hub on the ground floor of the Student Union building — a key piece of her Sustainability moonshot.

Graduate student Skylar Funk of the USC Thornton School of Music is among the students who have spent considerable time inside the building since it opened.

“I am a big fan of President Folt’s leadership on sustainability,” says Funk, a member of the Student Sustainability Committee of the president’s Working Group on Sustainability.

Funk says that Folt’s creation of the student group “has been about hearing students’ voices on sustainability initiatives and giving them structure and institutional support to make those ideas reality.”

The hub offers a collaborative, inclusive and multiuse gathering space for students, researchers and staff focused on advancing sustainability.

“What’s so meaningful to me is that this [space] has students coming in and out all the time, from every area,” Folt said at the opening, which drew more than 1,000 people. “Now they can all collaborate on this shared passion for sustainability.”

At every home football game, Folt can be seen walking alongside the student section, excitedly exchanging a string of double high-fives and taking selfies with Trojan fans in the front rows of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In addition to being the Trojans’ No. 1 fan, Folt has pushed for ways for student-athletes to be able to compete at the highest levels by providing them with upgraded and expanded facilities.

Folt has raised funds for capital efforts including upgrades to Galen Center, breaking ground on the Bloom Football Performance Center and construction of the state-of-the-art Rawlinson Stadium for USC women’s soccer and lacrosse programs.

She has also strengthened the momentum of building and upgrading facilities to support all 21 sports programs, and she launched USC Athletics into the future through its integration into the Big Ten Conference.

Folt’s fandom spans all sports. She is a consistent presence at women’s and men’s basketball games at Galen Center, and also frequents the David X. Marks Tennis Stadium, Uytengsu Aquatics Center, Rawlinson Stadium, and Allyson Felix Field at Katherine B. Loker Track Stadium & Colich Center, among other sports venues.

Athletes and coaches have appreciated her support. USC women’s soccer team forward Simone Jackson presented Folt with the game ball last November, just days after Folt announced she would be retiring from USC in July.

“Your presence is felt always,” Jackson, a USC Marshall School of Business senior, told her. “We’re going to miss you so much. We want you at our games always.”

Folt, clearly moved, hugged Jackson and said to the team, “You’re really just what it’s all about for me.”

President Carol Folt poses for a selfie with students during the Student Equity and Inclusion Programs grand opening in the student union building in 2023.

IN THE WAKE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, another crisis has been unfolding — one that isn’t making headlines but is claiming thousands of lives. Alcohol-related liver disease has quietly surged to become the leading cause of alcohol-related deaths, surpassing even motor vehicle fatalities. At Keck Medicine of USC, doctors like hepatologist Brian P. Lee see the consequences firsthand.

“The liver is the great filter of the body. It detoxifies the blood, drugs and bile that go through it,” says Lee, a liver transplant specialist and an associate professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “Other organs are dependent on your liver, and if your liver fails, then often, your kidneys and other organs will also fail.

“Every day at my clinic, I see several patients who have had their livers destroyed as a consequence of alcohol use. Our hospital unit is full of patients with liver disease and liver failure in need of a transplant.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Lee and his colleagues saw a pronounced increase in patients with liver disease. “Hospital admissions to Keck were up more than 30% due to alcohol-related conditions, and liver disease was among the most common conditions,” he says. That year also reflected an increase in alcohol sales up 34% from 2019 to 2020. The hospitalization surge led Lee and his colleagues to investigate why in a study.

“At the time, we thought that people were drinking more during lockdown because they were more stressed, and once things got back to ‘normal,’ drinking rates would decrease,” Lee says. “That’s not what we’ve been seeing in the hospital.”

A LINGERING PANDEMIC LEGACY

In 2024, Lee was the principal investigator for a Keck Medicine follow-up study specifically examining the rate of alcohol consumption. He and fellow researchers found that the increases they saw in 2020 were sustained, if not higher, in 2022. They studied data from the National Health Interview Survey, one of the largest and most comprehensive health surveys in the country, which collected alcohol use information as well as demographic and socioeconomic data for more than 24,000 adults 18 years and older. While the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the official end of the pandemic in May 2023, the National Health Interview Survey defined the year 2022 as post-pandemic, as regular lifestyle routines were beginning to resume.

The researchers compared 2018 with 2020 alcohol use numbers, then compared 2018 with 2022.

They found that from the pre-pandemic year of 2018 to the height of the pandemic in 2020, heavy alcohol use among Americans rose by 20%, and alcohol use of any amount rose by 4%. In 2022, increases were sustained, and the rise in drinking was seen across all age groups, genders, race, ethnicities and regions of the country, except for Native Americans and Asian Americans. Adults ages 40 to 49 had the highest increase in alcohol use.

The Keck Medicine study did not analyze why alcohol consumption increased between 2018 and 2022, but Lee says there are general hypotheses. “We know that people use alcohol as a coping mechanism,” he says. He points to Hurricane Katrina’s widespread devastation in 2005 and the events of 9/11 in 2001 when rates of alcohol and smoking increased.

“But those were temporary bumps,” Lee notes. “The thought

is the pandemic was more sustained, and when you have a trigger for increasing alcohol use, we know even if you remove the trigger, it doesn’t necessarily remove the substance use disorder. Meaning the habit can become more than just a habit and become a way of life — an addiction.”

THE PATH TO LIVER FAILURE

Last December, a 63-year-old patient at Keck Medicine of USC received a liver transplant. He had fatty liver, and alcohol-related liver disease — and had developed cancer within the liver, says his surgeon, Navpreet Kaur. He was discharged within five days. About two months later, he was ready to go back to golfing and work.

“For patients like him, recovery can be very quick, and they can resume doing the things they enjoyed before they got sick,” she says.

While relatively common, liver transplantation is a “demanding and technical operation,” according to Kaur, an assistant professor of clinical surgery at Keck School of Medicine who performs more than 40 liver transplants annually. Each transplant candidate undergoes a rigorous pre- and post-surgery evaluation for physical health, mental health and assessment of their out-of-the-hospital support system. But, the illness of alcohol addiction can be a challenging foe, and post-transplant success depends on a change in health habits, including alcohol consumption.

“Years ago, I had a patient with acute alcohol-related liver disease. She did very well with the surgery,” Kaur says. Unfortunately, a year later, the patient began to drink again. After the patient’s primary care provider helped her get sober through psychiatry and therapy, Kaur says, “she was able to persevere and become sober, without any effect to the liver transplant itself.”

Because alcohol use is the most common cause of liver disease, it accounts for more than 50% of liver-related deaths. The second most common cause is fatty liver, which is related to obesity.

There are four stages of liver disease, and each stage monitors the scarring of the liver — known as cirrhosis. The scarring results when the liver repairs itself and regenerates after damage from alcohol or other causes. In the fourth stage, the liver is usually too scarred to repair itself.

“The liver can regenerate, but only up to a point,” Lee says. “Even if you have small amounts of healthy liver, you may feel fine, but when it’s really damaged, people may develop fluid in the belly, leg swelling, confusion, bleeding from large vessels or jaundice. Liver failure can develop very quickly.” After that, a transplant is likely the only option.

THE UNSEEN TOLL ON YOUNGER ADULTS

Why are people younger than 50 years old at special risk for alcohol-related liver disease? During the time of the study, alcohol use increased in all ages and nearly all demographics. “But young adults, especially younger women, have been the fastest contributor to increasing liver-related deaths, and no one is quite sure why,” Lee says. In this instance, the hypotheses have to do with the circumstances endured during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There were well-known stressors during the pandemic for this age group. “For example, some were supposed to be in the golden years of their careers, and suddenly that’s upended by the pandemic,”

Lee says. “Many women had young children or teenagers in the household who had to move to remote learning.”

In the research study, adults were characterized as having any alcohol use or heavy alcohol use within one year of the survey, and researchers calculated the rate of both measures of alcohol use. Heavy drinking for men was defined as greater than or equal to five drinks on any given day or 15 drinks a week. For women, it was greater than or equal to four drinks on any given day or eight drinks a week.

SHIFTING THE FOCUS TO PREVENTION

Working on the frontlines of health care, Lee sees the reaction and surprise among his patients. “Time and time again, even people with liver failure are shocked to know that their drinking habit led to the failure,” he says. “For me, it’s about finding treatments for our patients, of course, but it’s also about preventing people from being in that situation to begin with.”

Because so many of their patients at Keck Medicine are middle-aged, Kaur says prevention information must reach people earlier in life. “When someone starts drinking at age 21, nobody talks about what alcohol does to your body,” she says. “We talk about

alcohol, we draw away from them instead of asking them if they have stresses in their life that they need help with.

“In turn, the person drinking loses more of their support system, and they may consume more. So, it’s not only a physician or a health care worker who needs to help them; I think we have to look at it from a societal point of view and help each other.”

A GROWING NEED FOR ORGAN TRANSPLANTS

Concurrent with the post-pandemic increase in alcohol consumption is the increased demand for available livers for transplantation, which is the definitive treatment for end-stage liver disease. Keck Medicine performs about 150 liver transplants a year.

However, there is a shortage of donor livers. “We have an organ and supply mismatch, and at any given time, about 15,000 people are on the liver transplant wait list nationally,” Lee says. “About 20% to 30% of patients who need a liver will not receive a transplant. We need to continue to get the word out to the public because we need every organ.”

Public education about organ donation and new technologies to improve the viability of donated livers for transplant are on the rise.

the risks with smoking, but alcohol is a very acceptable recreational substance in this country. We need to educate young people about the long-term effects of alcohol.”

Other studies show that people who drink are underreporting it, but health professionals know that more than 70% of Americans drink. “So, more than likely, a patient is drinking, and it’s very important for a doctor to know how much they drink so that they may conduct the appropriate tests,” Lee says. “The more I see transplants, the more I realize the importance of how much we can do in terms of prevention. Liver disease due to alcohol consumption is preventable.”

Lee hopes the Keck Medicine research study will inform both doctors and patients. “If you are drinking above the threshold, it’s really important to talk to your doctor about that so you can be screened for health problems,” he says. “If caught early, you might be able to prevent and treat the progression of liver disease.”

Both Kaur and Lee understand that the word ‘alcoholic’ is considered stigmatizing language. “There’s a stereotype that someone must be drinking two cases of liquor a day,” Lee says. “But that’s not what we are seeing in the clinic.”

Generally, Kaur adds, society is OK with “recreational substances, like alcohol, in a social setting. But, when someone is overconsuming

A SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE

Over the years, Lee has seen the reasons his patients’ lifestyles have caused damage to their livers. “I’ve had people who drink more because their parents passed away, for example, or they lost their job,” he says, adding that most are surprised by the severity of their illness. “They did not know they had liver disease because they didn’t have symptoms before, and then they develop liver failure and undergo a transplant surgery.”

The evaluation process for transplants is extremely rigorous. “We have a whole team that works with patients, including liver doctors and surgeons, social workers, psychiatrists, addiction specialists, physical therapists and nutritionists,” Lee says. “The psychosocial evaluation ensures each patient is both physically and mentally strong enough to go through the transplant process and be a steward of the transplanted organ for years and decades to come.”

He calls it the “miracle of transplant.”

“One week after the transplant, they are walking out of the hospital,” Lee says. “Most people who undergo transplant due to alcohol stop drinking completely, and they really change their lives around because they are so appreciative. And that’s the ethos of transplant. It’s the idea of a second chance.”

FAMILY

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN

Jessica Gambling, university archivist, holds a photo of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority members in front of Widney Hall, circa 1890, from USC Libraries’ Special Collections. “All we’ve ever done is our best at being humans who would, from time to time, succumb to the urge to put on a bucket and blow off some steam,” she says.

Forever Yours

The university honors outstanding Trojans — and one very special one — at the 91st alumni awards ceremony. BY USC STAFF

Every April, the Trojan Family gathers in black-tie attire for a formal dinner to honor the year’s USC Alumni Association award recipients for their professional achievements and legacy of service. This year’s gathering, like ones held in the past, was a night filled with friends, family and school spirit.

Unlike previous years, however, the 2025 gala was an opportunity for the USC Alumni Association (USCAA) to

confer USC President Carol Folt with honorary alumna status to commemorate her retirement.

USCAA Board of Governors President Daniel Prince ’00, MA ’02 presented the award, noting that Folt’s dynamic leadership, passion for innovation and wholehearted dedication to USC’s students were felt by Trojans worldwide. Prince added Folt’s return to teaching as USC faculty would allow her to “inspire new generations of Trojans.”

ALUMNI SERVICE AWARD

Antonio “Tony” Alamo MD ’91 is the chief physician executive and chief medical officer for Nevada Heart and Vascular Center, the largest cardiology group in the state of Nevada, and a staunch supporter of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Keck School of Medicine in 2019.

For more than 30 years, Alamo has shared his expertise and experience with the Keck School of Medicine as an ambassador, committee member and mentor. He is a member of the school’s Board of Councilors. In 2022, Donna Elliott, vice dean of medical education, recruited Alamo to help develop curricula for its students.

From his private practice in Las Vegas, Alamo has organized a patient referral network with Keck Medicine of USC. As a university ambassador, he helped arrange a $3 million gift from Michael and Sharon Ensign to Keck School of Medicine and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. Alamo served as the president of the Ensign Cancer Research Foundation, which has contributed more than $5 million to support cancer research and medical education at USC.

ALUMNI MERIT AWARD

Ego Nwodim ’10 is an actress, comedian, writer and producer best known for her performances on NBC’s Saturday Night Live (SNL). She received back-to-back nominations in 2024 and 2025 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series from the NAACP Image Awards for her work on SNL.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Md., Nwodim began pursuing comedy after graduating from USC. She honed her craft at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles, where she became a mainstay. More recently, The Hollywood Reporter featured her on the cover of its May 23, 2024, issue as one of “comedy’s leading ladies.”

Beyond acting, Nwodim is passionate about giving back. In 2023, she co-launched the Life Skills Improv Program in partnership with the Baltimore Curriculum Project to help local youth explore and embrace new possibilities. A USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences alumna, she delivered the school’s commencement address in 2022.

USCAA Board of Governors President Daniel Prince and USC President Carol Folt at the USC Alumni Awards Gala.

ALUMNI MERIT AWARD

Wilbur H. Smith III MRED ’99 is the founder, president and CEO of Greenlaw Partners, a California-based, full-service commercial real estate development and operating company. Smith oversees all aspects of the company’s acquisition, operations and investment development and redevelopment programs. Under his leadership, Greenlaw has completed more than $10 billion in acquisitions and dispositions across nearly 350 commercial properties.

Smith is a licensed California real estate broker, active member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and board member of YPO’s Orange County Gold Chapter. He is also a founding member of the Orange County Chapter of Tiger 21 and serves as an independent director on the boards of American Healthcare REIT, Bronco Wine and Uprite Construction.

An alumnus of the USC Price School of Public Policy, Smith currently serves as the vice chair of its Board of Councilors. He is also a member of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate Executive Committee.

YOUNG ALUMNI MERIT AWARD

Tim Ellis ’12, MS ’13 is the co-founder and former CEO of Relativity Space, an aerospace company developing manufacturing technologies, launch vehicles and rocket engines for commercial orbital launch services.

Under his leadership, Relativity successfully launched Terran 1, the world’s first 3D-printed rocket, and sold more than $2.9 billion in launch service agreements to commercial and government entities. Before co-founding Relativity, Ellis was a propulsion development engineer at Blue Origin. He was the youngest member of the National Space Council Users’ Advisory Group and directly advised the White House on space policy from 2018 to 2023.

Ellis has been included in Time magazine’s 100 Next list, MIT Technology Review’s “Innovators Under 35” list and two of Forbes’ “30 Under 30” lists. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. At USC, Ellis and Relativity co-founder Jordan Noone ’14 helped launch the first student-built rocket into space.

ASA V. CALL ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Shelly Nemirovsky ’85 upholds the university’s reputation through her work as a USC trustee, philanthropist and community leader. In 2016 — the year Nemirovsky was elected to the USC Board of Trustees — she and her husband, Ofer, made a gift to endow and name the Nemirovsky Residential College for Sustainability at USC Village.

The Nemirovskys’ generosity has touched nearly every part of USC. They established USC’s Shelly and Ofer Nemirovsky Provost’s Chair, which provides recognition and support for the leader overseeing the university’s academic enterprise, as well as USC’s NEMO Prizes, which catalyze highpotential health engineering collaborations between researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and USC’s health sciences schools. The couple also established USC Viterbi’s Shelly and Ofer Nemirovsky Chair in Convergent Bioscience.

Nemirovsky and her husband are the proud parents of three children: Genevieve ’20, Eric ’23 and Will.

Fighting on at the USCAA Alumni Awards Gala in April: (front, from left) Tim Ellis ’12, MS ’13, Daniel Prince ’00, MA ’02, Linda Mirdamadi MD ’94, USC President Carol Folt, Shelly Nemirovsky ’85, Ego Nwodim ’10; (back, from left) USC Associate Senior Vice President for Alumni Relations Erika Jordan ML ’18, Tony Alamo MD ’91, host Tony Cabrera ’06, Simeon Stewart ’92, MBA ’17, and Wilbur H. Smith III MRED ’99.

One with the Trojan Family

During her tenure, President Carol Folt engaged with the Trojan Family and created lifelong connections. Here are four events that empowered the Trojan Family to make the world a better place — and keep Fighting On!

BY USC STAFF

Historic Building Renamed In April 2022, USC’s Center for International and Public Affairs was renamed to bear the name of the late World War II hero and war chief of the Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation, Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow MA ’39 (pictured at top left). The celebratory event included Medicine Crow’s family members, USC leadership, faculty, staff and students.

“This building, with that beautiful globe top tower visible all across Los Angeles, telegraphs a new symbol of USC, a new name — I’d say a proper name — to carry tomorrow’s dream.”

— PRESIDENT CAROL FOLT

‘USC-India: Partner the Future’

In January 2024, President Folt visited India as part of an effort to ramp up the university’s long-standing and multifaceted relationship with the country.

Branded “USC-India: Partner the Future,” the delegation was composed of deans, faculty researchers and senior administrators on a three-city tour touting the strengths and advantages of USC as a university and research partner of choice for Indian students, businesses and government organizations and was a way to “supercharge the USC-India global partnership,” Folt said.

Celebrating Allyson Felix ’08

In April 2023, Trojans gathered to celebrate the renaming of USC track and field’s home to Allyson Felix Field, cementing the university’s relationship with the women’s rights activist, entrepreneur, mother and most decorated track and field athlete in Olympic history.

Felix began her career at the World Championships and the Olympic Games while still a student at USC. She told Folt, “When you broke down why the university wanted to rename this field in my honor, it just meant so much to me because it really showed me that the university values character and integrity. That’s just rare and very special.”

“When you broke down why the university wanted to rename this field in my honor... it really showed me that the university values character and integrity.”

— ALLYSON FELIX, ADDRESSING CAROL FOLT

Honorary Degrees for Nisei Trojans

In April 2022, Folt conferred post-humous honorary degrees on all Nisei Trojans — Japanese-American USC students who were incarcerated during World War II and not allowed to return to the university — who had not yet received them.

A rock garden (above) was also installed near the north end of Trousdale Parkway to honor the university’s Nisei students with a peaceful place for reflection.

What Will Your Trojan Legacy Be?

As a young man, Larry Kaplan MA ’78 was looking for a radio station job when a chance encounter with USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism Professor Joe Saltzman changed his life. Saltzman persuaded Larry to apply to USC Annenberg’s graduate program, which included a teaching assistant position. Forever grateful for the opportunities he received at and because of USC, Larry has designated an estate gift to the USC Annenberg Journalism Fund.

To create your Trojan legacy, contact the USC Office of Gift Planning at (213) 740-2682 or giftplanning@usc.edu. Please visit us online at usc.planmygift.org.

“Being a teaching assistant and getting paid a stipend allowed me to earn a degree at one of the best schools in the country. It’s my turn to give back to USC.”

Larry kaplan ma ’78

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Mark Hayes Peacock ’64 (LAS) published his fourth short story collection, Six Short Stories; St. Paul Pioneer Press recommended it as “very good summer reading.”

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Patrick Nolan ’72 (LAS), JD ’75 (LAW) co-wrote an article in the Journal of the California Supreme Court Historical Society, Volume 19, 2024.

D.D. “Don” Warrick DBA ’72 (BUS) received the Outstanding Faculty Award for 2024 in the College of Business at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, where he has been a professor for 53 years. He also published his 11th book, Cases on Critical Leadership Skills, in 2024.

Robert Kovitz MPA ’73 (SPP), was appointed to the Arizona State Board of Massage Therapy. He is the former general manager of Canyon Ranch Resort in Tucson.

Carlos Ramet ’77 (SCA) wrote The Quiet Limit of the World, published by Running Wild Press.

Scott Macdonald ’79 (SCJ) published his memoir, You’ll Never Take Me Alive: One Man’s Fight Against AIDS, about his fight against AIDS in the 1990s.

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Leon Laub ’80 (LAS), MBA ’90 (BUS), has retired from Merrill Lynch after a 36-year career as a wealth management advisor and certified financial planning professional.

Joel Farbstein ’81 (LAS) is the studio manager of Meets the Eye Studios, a film and commercial studio in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is often seen on Showtime Championship Boxing telecasts. He is the defending champion of the Roach Motel League, the oldest continuously operating baseball rotisserie league (the most common way to play fantasy baseball), founded in 1981.

Colin Coulson-Thomas ’82 (LAS) was presented with an education award by the Bharat Bhagyavidhata Mahatma Gandhi Foundation in November 2024 at the House of Lords in London. Coulson-Thomas has worked in education and health care for more than 30 years, including service on the Board of Moorfields Eye Hospital, the National Biological Standards Board and more.

Stacy Nathaniel ’82 (ART) published her debut novel, The Ephemera Collector (Liveright/W.W. Norton), in April. Set in near-future Los Angeles, the setting includes USC; People magazine recently published an exclusive cover reveal and story.

Grant Chun ’83 (LAS) has retired as executive director of Hale Mahaolu, a nonprofit organization providing affordable housing in Maui, Hawaii.

Cheryl Russell ’85 (LAS) judged artistic swimming at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Shannon Capps ’87 (LAS) just published his childhood memoir, No One Special: Confessions of a Badly-Behaved ‘Boomer,’ set entirely in Southern California. The book details his growing up years in Downey, and is a love letter to Trojans he came of age with.

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Judy Friedman-Rudzki MBA ’90 (BUS) was elected chair of the Los Angeles Jewish Health board of directors. A Los Angelesbased director and senior treasury officer at Bank of America, Friedman-Rudzki began serving her two-year term in July 2024.

Arthur J. Ochoa ’90 (LAS) was appointed co-chair of the Pacific Council on International Policy board of directors, lending his organizational expertise to promote diverse perspectives on global affairs among the people of Los Angeles and California. Founded in 1995 in partnership with the University of Southern California and the Council on Foreign Relations, the Pacific Council on International Policy engages people from different industries and backgrounds to join foreign policy discussions to bring about global change. Ochoa is the senior vice president of

advancement and chief advancement officer for Cedars-Sinai.

Russell Klosk ’92 (LAS) recently published Talent Prophecy: Creating Strategic Impact Through Workforce Planning and Talent Strategy (Forbes Books). He is a managing director responsible for workforce planning practice at Deloitte.

Christina Marsden ’94 (LAS) has been appointed as a scholar-in-residence at UCLA, supported in part by the Mellon Grants’ program Race in the Global Past Through Native Lenses.

Dalton Sprinkle ’95 (LAS) has joined Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as a shareholder in the firm’s corporate and business department.

Jennifer (Kambak) Bransfield ’96 (LAS) was named by Leadership Greater Chicago as one of the top 28 executives for the 2025 Daniel Burnham Fellowship. The fellowship is a strategic partnership accelerator designed for executives to impact the region’s workforce and economic progress as change leaders and decision makers. Bransfield is Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, Inc.’s chief operating officer and general counsel.

Phil Champlin MBA ’97 (BUS) was honored with the Legacy of Leadership Award from the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce at the 2024 annual meeting, recognizing his remarkable dedication and enduring effect on the chamber and the Spokane Valley business community. He has served on the board since 2018.

Troy Davis MS ’99 (ENG) , who founded engineering company Jada Systems Inc., was honored by the Los Angeles Metro at its 10th anniversary celebration in February for his company’s philanthropic contributions to the city of San Bernardino.

Edward Mena ’99 (MED) was honored by the Liver Health Foundation as its 2024 Leadership Visionary Award recipient. Mena was recognized for his leadership in liver care and research in the Los Angeles area. He established and serves as the medical director of the Pasadena Liver Center. Mena also founded and serves as the director of the California Liver Research Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on advancing the treatment and curing of liver disease.

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Richard D. Falconer ’01, ’03 (SDA) spoke at the Enlighten Americas Conference for the International Association of Lighting Designers in San Diego last fall.

Heidy Vaquerano ’04 (LAS), a partner at Fox Rothschild’s nationwide entertainment and sports law department, was among the 10 women recognized by L.A. Business First in its 2024 “Women of Influence” list. Vaquerano works with artists and rights companies to diversify revenue streams. She also serves on the board of PBS SoCal.

Florence Chung Wlodarski MSW ’04 (SSW), is the co-founder of Parallel, a social club seeking to build a community for those in midlife who choose not to have kids. Often called DINKs (dual-income-no-kids) and SINKs (single-income-no-kids), the demographic has been growing. Parallel wants to offer a space for meaningful connections and personal growth over shared experiences.

Kaleb Keller ’05 (BUS), JD ’12 (LAW) was named a partner in the Transactions Department and the Real Estate Group by Morrison Morrison Foerster. His practice focuses on representing institutional investors and lenders in complex commercial real estate transactions.

Nicole Asao ’06 (LAS) was highlighted by Women We Admire in their list of Top 50 Women Chief Revenue Officers of 2024.

Kathryn Smith Hallam ’06 (SCJ) published Nosey, a whimsical book about nose picking for children 2 to 5 years old.

Giovanna Silvestre ’06 (LAS) is the creator of Confused Girl in the City, an activewear brand that blends beauty and spirituality. Embarking on a journey of self-discovery, Silvestre transitioned from entertainment to wellness and released her book, Confused Girl: Find Your Peace in the Chaos (Blackstone Publishing), in May.

Jordan P. Bowne ’07 (LAS) was named partner at Boston law firm Casner & Edwards in January. He is currently co-chair of the public policy subcommittee for the Boston Bar Association’s trusts and estates committee. He

is an adjunct professor at Suffolk University Law School.

Price Karr ’08 (LAS) was promoted to senior vice president of investor relations at Wynn Resorts.

Jordan Carr ’08 (LAS) was a contestant on an episode of Jeopardy! on Dec. 17, 2024.

Jeff Helsing MBA ’08 (BUS), joined T. Rowe Price as an Institutional Business DevelopmentFixed Income executive.

Kizziah Burton ’09 (LAS) won the $20,000 Montreal International Poetry Prize for her poem “Portrait of Me Incensing the Mushroom’s Channeling Demeter.”

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Cristina Grossu Biffle ’12 (LAS) was recognized with the 2024 Humanitarian Award by the Canopy Housing Foundation for her outstanding service in aiding communities in western North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene. Biffle and her husband mobilized immediately in the days after Hurricane Helene’s devastation to help residents by flying their helicopter into hard-to-reach areas and bringing assistance and supplies. For weeks, she worked 16-hour days, which included planning, organizing and collecting donations and then flying those donations to those who needed them most. In between donation drops, they rescued people and pets, offering consolation and support as they answered the call of service to their fellow North Carolinians.

Aaron Fischman MA ’13 (SCJ)’s book, A Baseball Gaijin: Chasing a Dream to Japan and Back, was named a finalist for the 2024 CASEY Award, which honors the best baseball book each year.

Crystal Bettenhausen-Bubulka MS ’14 (SSW), a military spouse and licensed clinical social worker, received the Pat Tillman Foundation award in 2024 for her commitment to addressing mental health and social challenges within military communities. Her prize also reflected her dedication to supporting military families through extensive volunteer work. In 2022, she received the Good

Samaritan Award from the American Red Cross of San Diego and Imperial Counties because she helped someone in a suicidal crisis situation. She is currently pursuing her doctorate at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.

Howard Ho ’15 (LAS) won the 2024 Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival for Beethoven’s Third. His play Parity was presented at the Pan Asian Repertory NuWorks Festival in June 2024, and Next Stage Press published Reset in October 2024.

Sundeep Bhatia MA ’16 (BUS) was appointed the first president of Prime Healthcare, based in Ontario, Calif., which has 44 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient locations across 14 states. Bhatia, an interventional cardiologist, joined Prime in 2011 as chief medical officer of Sherman Oaks Hospital and Encino Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Julio Vincent Gambuto ’16 (SCA)’s book about simplifying modern life titled Please Unsubscribe, Thanks!: How to Take Back Our Time, Attention, and Purpose in a Relentless World (Avid Reader Press) was chosen by Barnes & Noble as its nonfiction “Pick of the Month” for August 2024.

Leena Ibrahim ’16 (LAS) was honored as a laureate in the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Middle East Regional Young Talents Program for her groundbreaking neuroscience research.

Melvin Dilanchian ’17 (LAS) MA ’21 (SCJ) and Lena Tavitian ’19 (LAS) founded social impact accelerator Project Yeraz (meaning “dream”), which focuses on Los Angeles’ large and growing Armenian community. Under the advice of USC Marshall Professor Abby Fifer Mandell, the duo successfully launched a pilot retreat in 2023, secured funding in 2024 and started the career accelerator in January.

Andrew Kozlovski ’18 (LAS) and Rodrigo Pecchio Ducharne ’20 (ENG) created Drafted, a platform that reimagines the hiring process for job seekers and employers by incorporating video résumés and AI matching. Since launching in late 2024, the app has onboarded more than 2,500 users.

Emissary of Global Cinema

Aneesha Madhok, USC School of Dramatic Arts alumna, is elevating unheard voices as an actress, writer and director.

In her breakout role in the film Bully High (2022), Aneesha Madhok ’18 plays a Pakistani exchange student at a Southern California high school who is bullied for her Muslim identity. The character, Maryam, triumphs over her tormentors by verbally confronting them.

“I’m a very diplomatic person in real life, but this character was not,” says Madhok, who won best actress at the Mumbai International Film Festival in India for the role. “I learned one thing: Being silent is not the answer.”

Elevating the voices of marginalized groups through film has become a career focus for Madhok, who earned her bachelor’s degree at the USC School of Dramatic Arts and a minor in screenwriting from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Bully High, in which she was cast shortly after graduating, opened doors for her in both Hollywood and India’s Bollywood. The actor, writer and director now splits her time between New Delhi and Los Angeles.

“I go back and forth because I can never have enough of the two worlds,” she says.

Last November, Madhok returned to the USC University Park Campus for the first time since graduating in 2018. She was in Los Angeles to find partners for two projects: a TV series about an American spy living in India and a feature film about an Indian American ballerina who fuses ballet with traditional Indian dance.

Madhok wants to collaborate with directors who share her passion for centering characters and cultures not often portrayed in mainstream Hollywood films. “My mission is to make global cinema,” she says.

USC AS LAUNCHING PAD

Madhok began acting and dancing on stage at age 3. As a school-age child, she was bullied by classmates and turned to these art forms for refuge. At 17, she wrote and starred in the play Aliza-Free about a visually impaired dancer. When the play garnered acclaim in India, she set her sights on theater school in Los Angeles.

“USC was my No. 1 dream school,” says Madhok, whose brother, sister-in-law and cousin also attended USC.

A self-professed “proud Trojan,” Madhok wants to help USC grow its longstanding ties with India. In January, when USC President

Carol Folt led a delegation composed of deans, faculty researchers and senior administrators on a three-city tour in India branded “USC-India: Partner the Future,” Madhok was among the Indian alumni who joined the events. The trip built on an educational and professional relationship with the country that is more than 50 years in the making.

In February, she made her professional directorial debut with the short film Maa. The film, which Madhok also wrote and starred

in, explores themes of domestic violence and generational trauma.

For Madhok, directing is another means to tell stories of personal and cultural significance.

“Acting has always been my passion, and in order to accomplish it, I found innovative ways to express my artistry,” she says. “So, I also happen to be a writer, dancer, director, producer — wearing all those hats to make the dreams of my soul come true.”

RACHEL

B. LEVIN

Aneesha Madhok ’18 wants to help USC deepen its longstanding ties with India.

Aaliyah Qureishi ’18 (LAS) was featured in season two of the Amazon Prime TV series Bandish Bandits, which premiered on Dec. 13, 2024.

Christa Steele MBA ’18 (BUS) was appointed to the Lantronix Inc. board of directors as an independent director in 2024. She also serves on the Velocity Risk, The Doctors Company and Tanimura & Antle boards. In 2019 she was named one of Private Company Director’s “Directors to Watch.”

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Joselyn Takacs ’21 (LAS) wrote Pearce Oysters: A Novel, published by Zibby Books.

M A R R I A G E S

Alexis Fahey Jarrell MA ’19 (EDU) and Patrick Jarell MBV ’19 (BUS).

B I R T H S

Andrew Young ’08 (LAS) and Chalese Young, a daughter, Loretta Pearl

Ani Altounian ’10 (LAS) PharmD ’14 (PHM) and Dickran Altounian ’10 (LAS) MS ’11 (MED), a daughter, Julia

Elisabeth Davis Hakes ’18 (EDU) and Glenn Hakes, a daughter, Reagan Mae.

I N M E M O R I A M

Dean William Cochran ’49 (BUS) of Beaumont, Calif.; Oct. 12, 2024, at the age of 101

Anthony C. DiMarco ’50 (SCJ) of Los Angeles; Aug. 14, 2024, at the age of 96

Gerald Thompson ’50 (LAS) of Boone, Iowa; June 1, 2024, at the age of 96

Donald Beckhart ’55 (LAS) of Laguna Woods, Calif.; March 10, 2024, at the age of 90

William Doyle Jr. ’55 (LAS) of Papillion, Neb.; Aug. 1, 2024, at the age of 91

Frederick William Olson Jr. ’57 (BUS) of Salem, Ore.; Oct. 25, 2024, at the age of 88

Michael Missakian, MD ’58 (MED) of La Cañada, Calif.; on Sept. 12, 2024, at the age of 93

Edward H. Rodriguez ’58 (SPP) of Oceanside, Calif.; March 13, 2024, at the age of 92

Young Woo ’59 (ARC) of Lakewood Ranch, Fla.; July 3, 2024, at the age of 94

James Boone ’60 (LAS) of San Antonio, Texas; May 23, 2024, at the age of 92

Keith Holden ’60 (BUS) of Signal Mountain, Tenn.; March 25, 2024. at the age of 85

Gary S. Irons ’60 (LAS) of Marriottsville, Md.; Oct. 28, 2024, at the age of 86

Alvin Marks, PhD ’60 (LAS) of Alpine, Calif.;

Nov. 2, 2024, at the age of 98

Atis “Pete” Petersons ’60 (LAS) of Agoura Hills, Calif.; Nov. 17, 2024, at the age of 90

Lowell “Skip” Lusk ’63 (ARC) of Auburn, Calif.; Feb. 5, at the age of 87

Lee Anspacher ’65 (LAS) of Los Angeles; June 18, 2024, at the age of 81

Peter Nash ’66 (MED) of Mendocino, Calif.; Jan. 19, 2024, at the age of 85

Charles H. Meade, MS ’67 (ENG) of Pawleys Island, S.C.; Feb. 10, at the age of 85

Douglas Palmer ’71 (LAS) of Santa Maria, Calif.; Sept. 30, 2024, at the age of 76

Paul Edward Clinco ’74 (MED) of Tucson, Ariz.; May 1, 2022, at the age of 74

John Robinson

John Robinson, one of USC’s most popular and successful football coaches, died Nov. 11, 2024, in Baton Rouge, La., of complications from pneumonia. He was 89.

Robinson guided the Trojans to the 1978 national championship and into eight bowl games. He won 74.1% of his games while compiling a 104-35-4 record during two coaching stints spread over 12 years at Troy (1976-82 and 1993-97), recording more victories than any USC gridiron coach except John McKay

and Howard Jones. He was 4-0 in the Rose Bowl and earned five Pac-10 titles.

He produced 24 All-American first-teamers, 22 NFL first-rounders, two Heisman Trophy winners (Charles White and Marcus Allen) and a Lombardi Award winner (Brad Budde) at USC. He was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 2004, the College Football Hall of Fame and the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009, the Las Vegas Bowl Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame in 2018. He twice was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year (1976 and 1978) and earned National Coach of the Year honors in 1979.

Robinson is survived by his wife, Beverly; his four children; two stepchildren; and 10 grandchildren.

Nancy L Curry, PhD ’75 (EDU) of Springfield, Mo.; Aug. 21, 2024, at the age of 84

Patricia Staggs ’75 (LAS) of Rancho Mission Viejo, Calif.; May 16, 2024, at the age of 71

Craig Freeman ’76, MBA ’78 (BUS) of Syracuse, Kan.; Oct. 8, 2024, at the age of 70

Cheryl Morell ’77 (MED) of Encinitas, Calif.; Sept. 23, 2024, at the age of 72

Timothy Hirsch ’79 (MED) of Thousand Oaks, Calif.; Feb. 3, at the age of 71

Paula D. Berry ’83 (ART), JD ’87 (LAW) of Wichita, Kan.; Jan. 27, at the age of 72

Jennifer L. Van Rossem ’85 (BUS) of Tustin, Calif.; Nov. 23, 2024, at the age of 61

Thomas Bracken Fleming MA ’88 (LAS) of Wyndmoor, Penn.; July 28, 2024, at the age of 63

Mary Eliza Martin ’88 (LAS) of Folsom, Calif.; July 4, 2024, at the age of 95

Predrag Mitrevski ’94 (LAS) of San Clemente, Calif.; July 22, 2024, at the age of 52

Jason R. Behenna ’96 (LAS) of Marlborough, Mass.; Nov. 19, 2024, at the age of 50

Alex Small ’98 (LAS) of Pomona, Calif.; Dec.7, 2024, at the age of 47

T R O J A N T R I B U T E

Roger Rossier

Roger Rossier MA ’63, EdD ’72, a lifelong educator known for his significant contributions to educational research and policy, and the namesake of the USC Rossier School of Education, passed away on Aug. 11, 2024. He was 92.

A two-time alumnus of USC, Rossier had a long career in education and service, including positions as a geography teacher, dean of guidance at Pacifica High School in Garden Grove, a counselor at Cypress College, and as a member of the U.S. Navy.

Roger and his wife, Barbara J. Rossier EdD ’71, met while serving as school counselors at Westminster High School, although they both received their master’s degrees in educational guidance at USC. They both later returned to USC for their doctorates and then dedicated their lives to pursuing educational equity and strived for a society that offers a strong education to people of all backgrounds.

Roger and Barbara ran one of the largest special education schools in the state. Roger also served as vice president of Rossier Educational Enterprises, overseeing the career counseling, transportation and travel divisions.

In 1998, the couple announced a $20 million gift to USC’s School of Education, then believed to be the single largest gift ever made to a school of education in the United States. In recognition of their generosity and commitment to excellence in education, the USC Board of Trustees voted to name the school the USC Barbara J. and Roger W. Rossier School of Education.

Roger remained steadfast in his commitment to USC over the years. In 2016, he was inducted into USC’s Half Century Trojan Hall of Fame. He also served on the USC Athletics Board of Counselors, chaired the USC Rossier Counseling Advisory Council and chaired the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors SCions Scholarship Committee.

Roger is survived by two sons, Dan and Steve; grandchildren Jennifer, Seth and Sophia; and daughters-in-law Linda and Anne. Barbara passed away on Aug. 11, 2013, at the age of 78.

Amy Melanie Christensen, MSW ’14 (SSW) of Idaho Falls, Idaho; Aug. 19, 2024, at the age of 67

Brad Gasser ’16 (LAS) of Findlay, Ohio; July 24, 2024, at the age of 39

Max Kaplan ’22 (LAS) of Sioux City, Iowa; July 26, 2024, at the age of 31.

L E G E N D

ACC USC Leventhal School of Accounting

ARC USC School of Architecture

ART USC Roski School of Art and Design

BPT Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy

BUS USC Marshall School of Business

DEN Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC

DNC USC Kaufman School of Dance

DRA USC School of Dramatic Arts

EDU USC Rossier School of Education

ENG USC Viterbi School of Engineering

GRD USC Grad uate School

GRN USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology

IYA USC Iovine and Young Academy

LAS USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

LAW USC Gould School of Law

MED Keck School of Medicine of USC

MUS USC Thornton School of Music

OST USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy

PHM USC School of Pharmacy

SCA USC School of Cinematic Arts

SCJ USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

SPP USC Price School of Public Policy

SSW USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work

Tom Arteaga, Crisann Begley-Smith, Alexander Bernard, Maeve Harding, Kianoosh Hashemzadeh, Demetrius Ly, Leticia Lozoya, Katie Maloney, Alex Rast, Justin Wilson, Sabrina Skacan and Nicole Stark contributed to this section.

PHOTO BY STEVE

COHN

Taking Her Shot

Trojan forward Kiki Iriafen pursued her master’s degree in entrepreneurship at USC Marshall before heading to the WNBA

Even if you only considered basketball, Kiki Iriafen ’25 (BUS) has already had an illustrious Trojan career. The preseason AllAmerican averaged a near double-double for the highly ranked Trojan basketball team and was drafted No. 4 overall by the Washington Mystics.

But Iriafen has had more than on-the-court success. The graduate transfer from Stanford University returned to her hometown of Los Angeles not just to play basketball in front of her family, but to bring her academic talent to the USC Marshall School of Business.

In May she graduated with a Master of Science in Entrepreneurship and Innovation (MSEI), a one-year program at the Lloyd

Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. “You get so much from it,” Iriafen says. “From guest speakers coming in, from us being able to tap into different networks and resources in just one year. … How could you say no to that?”

THE WORLD OF STARTUPS

Between games and practices, Iriafen explored the world of startups, gained practical experience and soaked in the entrepreneurial mindset fostered in the center. She sees herself owning her own company one day, and says, “I know I have the resources to help me.”

Last summer, Iriafen and her classmates participated in a “one-week sprint of a course,” in which incoming students learned the fundamentals of entrepreneurship: ideation, pitching investors and fundraising, developing and launching a product — all while cultivating and connecting with a network.

“Rather than coming up with a hypothetical venture, you can go out and create it, and you have your peers, your professors to help you realize that [venture],” Iriafen explains. “If you want to look into great startups to get involved in MSEI is a great way to do that.”

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND BASKETBALL

When she was deciding to come to USC, Iriafen toured with members of the women’s basketball team, including fellow grad transfers and basketball players McKenzie Forbes and Kayla Padilla.

Her future teammates couldn’t speak highly enough about their own time in MSEI, its supportive culture and how the program set them up for their post-basketball careers.

Once enrolled, Iriafen saw firsthand why other Trojan players vouched for the program.

“Everybody is very pro [student-athlete]. [They] can help make it work for you,” Iriafen says.

Iriafen’s parents instilled in her a worldclass work ethic in the classroom — and on the basketball court. The USC women’s basketball team fosters the same high-achieving mindset.

“In anything that I do, I want to do it with excellence,” Iriafen explains. “[That’s] been instilled in me since I was little, and something that I don’t take lightly.”

As the next class of graduate transfers tours USC, Iriafen plans to offer them the same warm USC Marshall welcome she received.

“I hope to help promote the longevity of this MSEI-USC women’s basketball pipeline,” Iriafen says. ALEXANDER BERNARD

Kiki Iriafen ’25 returned to her hometown of Los Angeles not just to play basketball, but to bring her academic talent to the USC Marshall School of Business.

Play by Play

Big Ten Network StudentU program brings realworld sports-broadcasting opportunities to USC students. BY

GRAYSON SCHMIDT

Hours before cardinal-and-gold-clad basketball fans flood through the Galen Center doors and before the USC Women of Troy take the court for their pregame shooting routine, Andrew Giesler sits courtside in his navy blue suit and looks over his notes.

Giesler isn’t on the coaching staff, nor is he an athletics manager or USC student-athlete. But he is on a team — one that ensures that high-quality streams of USC athletic events reach homes across the country. He’s part of the university’s Big Ten Network StudentU program, a sports production program that streams more than 2,500 live events each year.

On this Sunday afternoon, Giesler provides color commentary for the USC women’s basketball game against Elon University. The game will be streamed exclusively on B1G+, the streaming service of the conference’s official cable network — the Big Ten Network.

“It’s just really cool to be able to pursue this passion of mine, especially as a bio major,” says Giesler, a student in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences — and a lifelong sports fan who used to mute the TV to do his own play-by-play over games.

Started in 2008 to bring more broadcast attention to sports other than football and men’s basketball, the Big Ten Network

StudentU program provides students with instruction and hands-on experience in every facet of game day production. The students are paid for their work, and the programming is student-produced and livestreamed on B1G+, with select games rebroadcast on the Big Ten Network cable channel.

Since the StudentU program started more than 15 years ago, the Big Ten Conference has undergone three separate expansions and added seven universities, including USC last year. Though the university is only in its second semester in the conference, USC is already making a name for itself in the realm of media production.

“Everything in Galen Center is state-of-the-art,” says Rob Coons, director of the StudentU program at the Big Ten Network. USC students who go through the program and want to get media jobs will know how to use the same cameras, switchers and graphics systems professionals use. He adds, “They are prepared to go out in the world on day one, land a job and know what they’re doing.”

Currently, some 50 USC students work for the university’s StudentU program. Not only does USC bring its iconic programs including football, baseball and women’s basketball to the network, but it also brings sports programs such as water polo and beach volleyball to a Big Ten audience.

Gordon Stables, director of the School of Journalism at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, says the control rooms at Galen Center help elevate USC’s brand.

“We have a remarkable cinema school and obviously a lot of great journalism has been done here, but we were never really a sports media production campus,” Stables says. “Well, we are now.”

PHOTO BY SEAN DUBE AND KRIS HEAD

USC Dornsife student Andrew Giesler (right) is part of USC’s Big Ten Network StudentU program, a sports production program that streams more than 2,500 live events each year.

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