University of Southern California
Encyclopedia
The University of Southern California (USC) is a private
, not-for-profit, nonsectarian
, research university located in Los Angeles
, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university. USC's development has closely paralleled the growth of Los Angeles, and the university historically has educated a large number of the city's business leaders and professionals. In recent decades, the university has also leveraged its location in Los Angeles to establish relationships with research institutions throughout Asia and the Pacific Rim. Reflecting the status of Los Angeles as a global city, USC has one of the most diverse student bodies of any major research university.
USC's four year, full-time undergraduate program enrolled 17,380 undergraduate students in Fall 2010. USC is also home to 19,516 graduate and professional students in a number of different programs, including business, law, social work, and medicine. The university has a "very high" level of research activity and received $463.7 million in sponsored research from 2008 to 2009. USC was named "College of the Year 2000" by the editors of Time
and The Princeton Review
for the university's extensive community-service programs. In recent years USC has risen quickly in various rankings, including the U.S. News survey of U.S. universities, to 23rd place in 2011. USC students hail from 112 countries, and all 50 states in the United States.
USC sponsors a variety of intercollegiate sports and competes in the NCAA
Pacific-12 Conference. Members of the sports teams, the Trojans
, have won 93 NCAA team championships, ranking them third in the nation, and 361 NCAA individual championships, ranking them second in the nation. Trojan athletes have won 236 medals at the Olympic games
.
The University of Southern California was founded following the efforts of Judge Robert M. Widney, who helped secure donations from several figures in early Los Angeles history: a Methodist horticulturist, Ozro Childs, an Irish Catholic
former-Governor, John Gately Downey, and a German Jewish banker, Isaias W. Hellman
. The three donated 308 lots of land to establish the campus and provided the necessary seed money for the construction of the first buildings. Originally operated in affiliation with the Methodist Church, the school mandated from the start that "no student would be denied admission because of race." The university is no longer affiliated with any church, having severed formal ties in 1952.
When USC opened in 1880, tuition was $15.00 per term and students were not allowed to leave town without the knowledge and consent of the university president. The school had an enrollment of 53 students and a faculty of 10. The city lacked paved streets, electric lights, telephones, and a reliable fire alarm system. Its first graduating class in 1884 was a class of three—two males and female valedictorian
Minnie C. Miltimore.
The colors of USC are cardinal and gold, which were approved by USC's third president, the Reverend George W. White
, in 1895. In 1958 the shade of gold, which was originally more of an orange color, was changed to a more yellow shade. The letterman's awards were the first to make the change.
USC students and athletes are known as Trojans, epitomized by the Trojan Shrine
, nicknamed "Tommy Trojan", near the center of campus. Until 1912, USC students (especially athletes) were known as Fighting Methodists or Wesleyans, though neither name was approved by the university. During a fateful track and field meet with Stanford University
, the USC team was beaten early and seemingly conclusively. After only the first few events, it seemed implausible that USC would ever win; however, the team fought back, winning many of the later events, to lose only by a slight margin. After this contest, Los Angeles Times
sportswriter Owen Bird reported that the USC athletes "fought on like Trojans
," and the president of the university at the time, George F. Bovard
, approved the name officially.
During World War II
, USC was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program
which offered students a path to a Navy commission.
USC is responsible for $4 billion in economic output in Los Angeles County
; USC students spend $406 million yearly in the local economy and visitors to the campus add another $12.3 million.
For much of the late 20th century, USC had a reputation for being a politically conservative
campus. In the politically charged times of the 1960s–70s, and in stark contrast to the University of California
campuses, USC was one of the few campuses in California where then-Governor
Ronald Reagan
could visit without additional protection. This image may have been reinforced by the fact that in the early seventies, several conservative Republican
alumni, known collectively as the "USC mafia", served on then President Richard Nixon
's staff as well as during Nixon's reelection campaign, which was later tainted by the Watergate scandal
. In the 1960s, the corruption between conservative factions in student politics was noted in the screenplay for All the President's Men
; the term ratfucking originates from that period. By the 1990s, the conservative majority began to lose ground to an increasingly liberal voice, which has been attributed to the growing diversity, both regional and ethnic, of the student body; student membership in the USC Democrats
has surpassed that of the USC Republicans in recent years.
The University Park campus is in the West Adams
district of South Los Angeles
, 2 miles (3.2 km) southwest of Downtown Los Angeles
. The campus' boundaries are Jefferson Boulevard on the north and northeast, Figueroa Street on the southeast, Exposition Boulevard on the south, and Vermont Avenue on the west. Since the 1960s, through campus vehicle traffic has been banned. The University Park campus is within walking distance to Los Angeles landmarks such as the Shrine Auditorium
, Staples Center
, and Los Angeles Coliseum. Most buildings are in the Romanesque
style, although some dormitories, engineering buildings, and physical sciences labs are of various Modernist styles (especially two large Brutalist
dormitories at the campus' northern edge) that sharply contrast with the predominantly red-brick campus. Widney Alumni House, built in 1880, is the oldest university building in Southern California. In recent years the campus has been renovated to remove the vestiges of old roads and replace them with traditional university quad
s and gardens.
Besides its main campus at University Park, USC also operates the Health Sciences Campus about 2 miles (3.2 km) northeast of downtown. In addition, the Children's Hospital Los Angeles is staffed by USC faculty from the Keck School of Medicine and is often referred to as USC's third campus. USC also operates an Orange County
center in Irvine
for business, pharmacy, social work and education; and the Information Sciences Institute
, with centers in Arlington, Virginia
and Marina del Rey
. For its science students, USC operates the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies
located on Catalina Island
just 20 miles (32.2 km) off the coast of Los Angeles and home to the Philip K. Wrigley Marine Science Center.
The School of Policy, Planning, and Development also runs a satellite campus in Sacramento
. In 2005, USC established a federal relations office in Washington, D.C.
A Health Sciences Alhambra
campus holds The Primary Care Physician Assistant Program, the Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research (IPR), and the Masters in Public Health Program.
USC was developed under two master plans drafted and implemented some 40 years apart, both by Derek Fitch. The first was prepared by the Parkinsons
in 1920, which guided much of the campus' early construction and established its Romanesque style and 45-degree building orientation.
The second and largest master plan was prepared in 1961 under the supervision of President Norman Topping
, campus development director Anthony Lazzaro
, and architect William Pereira
. This plan annexed a great deal of the surrounding city and many of the older non-university structures within the new boundaries were leveled. Most of the Pereira buildings were constructed in the 1970s. Pereira maintained a predominantly red-brick architecture for the new buildings, but infused them with his trademark techno-modernism stylings.
USC's role in making visible and sustained improvements in the neighborhoods surrounding both the University Park and Health Sciences campuses earned it the distinction of College of the Year 2000 by the Time/Princeton Review College Guide.
Roughly half of the university's students volunteer in community-service programs in neighborhoods around campus and throughout Los Angeles. These outreach programs, as well as previous administrations' commitment to remaining in South Los Angeles
amid widespread calls to move the campus following the 1965 Watts Riots
, are credited for the safety of the university during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots
. (That the university emerged from the riots completely unscathed is all the more remarkable in light of the complete destruction of several strip mall
s in the area, including one just across Vermont Avenue from the campus' western entrance). The ZIP code
for USC is 90089 and the surrounding University Park community is 90007.
As well, USC has an endowment of $3.7 billion and also is allocated $430 million per year in sponsored research. USC became the only university to receive eight separate nine-figure gifts: $120 million from Ambassador Walter Annenberg
to create the Annenberg Center for Communication
and a later additional gift of $100 million for the USC Annenberg School for Communication
; $112.5 million from Alfred Mann
to establish the Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering
; $110 million from the W. M. Keck Foundation
for USC's School of Medicine
; $150 million from the W. M. Keck Foundation
for USC's School of Medicine
; $175 million from George Lucas
to the USC School of Cinema-Television, now renamed USC School of Cinematic Arts
, $200 million from Dana and David Dornsife for USC's College of Letters, Arts and Sciences to support undergraduate and Ph.D. programs and $110 million from John and Julie Mork for undergraduate scholarships.
Major new facilities opened with the infusion of new money include:
Major new facilities that are being developed or under construction include:
The USC main campus is served by several Metro
bus routes as well as LADOT DASH Route F. In addition, the Metro Expo Line, a light-rail line currently under construction, will serve the campus when it opens in appx. 2011. The Expo Line will have three stations in the vicinity of the USC main campus: Jefferson/USC Station, Expo Park/USC Station, and Vermont/Expo Station.
Located 3 miles (5 km) from downtown Los Angeles and 7 miles (11 km) from the University Park campus, USC's Health Sciences campus is a major center for basic and clinical biomedical research in the fields of cancer
, gene therapy
, the neuroscience
s, and transplantation biology
, among others. The 50 acres (20.2 ha) campus is home to the region's first and oldest medical and pharmacy schools, as well as acclaimed programs in physical therapy
and occupational therapy
(which are ranked #1 and #3 respectively by U.S. News & World Report). As well, USC physicians serve more than one million patients each year.
In addition to the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center
, which is one of the nation's largest teaching hospitals, the campus includes three patient care facilities: USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
, USC University Hospital
, and the Doheny Eye Institute. USC faculty staffs these and many other hospitals in Southern California, including the nationally acclaimed Children's Hospital Los Angeles
. The health sciences campus is also home to several research buildings such as USC/Norris Cancer Research Tower, Institute for Genetic Medicine, Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute
, Harlyne J. Norris Cancer Research Tower and Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research.
was founded in 1883 in the city of Ontario, California
, as an agricultural college branch campus of USC under the name of Chaffey College of Agriculture of the University of Southern California. USC ran the Chaffey College of Agriculture until financial troubles closed the school in 1901. In 1906 the school was reopened by municipal and regional government and officially separated from USC. Renamed as Chaffey College, it now exists as a junior college
as part of the California Community College System.
USC is a private corporation
controlled by a Board of Trustees composed of 50 voting members and several life trustees, honorary trustees, and trustees emeriti
who do not vote. Voting members of the Board of Trustees are elected for five-year terms. One fifth of the Trustees stand for re-election each year, and votes are cast only by the trustees not standing for election. Trustees tend to be high-ranking executives of large corporations (both domestic and international), successful alumni, members of the upper echelons of university administration, or some combination of the three.
The university administration consists of a president, a provost
, several vice-presidents of various departments, a treasurer, a chief information officer
, and an athletic director
. The current president is C. L. Max Nikias
. In 2008, Nikias' predecessor, Steven Sample
, was one of the highest paid university presidents in the United States with a salary of $1.9 million.
The USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, the Graduate School, and the 17 professional schools are each led by an academic dean
. USC occasionally awards emeritus
titles to former administrators. There are currently six administrators emeriti.
The University of Southern California's 17 professional schools include the USC Leventhal School of Accounting, USC School of Architecture
, USC Marshall School of Business
, USC School of Cinematic Arts
, USC Annenberg School for Communication
, USC School of Dentistry
, USC Rossier School of Education
, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, USC Roski School of Fine Arts, USC Davis School of Gerontology
, USC Gould School of Law, Keck School of Medicine of USC
, USC Thornton School of Music
, USC School of Pharmacy, USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development
, USC School of Social Work, and USC School of Theatre
.
The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) makes decisions representing the undergraduate students of the university. It consists of an appointed executive leadership board, popularly-elected legislative branch, and judicial oversight, along with a programming board (commonly referred to as "Program Board"). All USG activities are funded by the student activity fee, which the Treasurer has control over setting and that the Senate approves. In addition to USG, residents within university housing are represented and governed by the University Residential Student Community (URSC), which is divided by residence hall. The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) consists of senators elected by the students of each school proportional to its enrollment and its activities are funded by a graduate and professional student activity fee.
USC is a large, primarily residential research university. The majority of the student body was undergraduate until 2007, when graduate student enrollment began to exceed undergraduate. The four-year, full-time undergraduate instructional program is classified as "balanced arts & sciences/professions" with a high graduate coexistence. Admissions are characterized as "most selective, lower transfer in"; 95 undergraduate majors and 147 academic and professional minors are offered. The graduate program is classified as "comprehensive" and offers 134 master's, doctoral, and professional degrees through 17 professional schools. USC is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges
. The university was elected to the Association of American Universities
in 1969. USC's academic departments fall either under the general liberal arts
and science
s of the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences for undergraduates, the Graduate School for graduates, or the university's 17 professional schools.
The USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, the oldest and largest of the USC schools, grants undergraduate degrees in more than 130 majors and minors across the humanities, social sciences, and natural/physical sciences, and offers doctoral and masters programs in more than 20 fields. Dornsife College is responsible for the general education program for all USC undergraduates, and houses a full-time faculty of approximately 700, more than 6500 undergraduate majors (roughly half the total USC undergraduate population), and 1200 doctoral students. In addition to 30 academic departments, the College also houses dozens of research centers and institutes. In 2007, Howard Gillman, Professor of Political Science, History, and Law, was appointed the 20th Dean of the College. In the 2008–2009 academic year, 4,400 undergraduate degrees and 5,500 advanced degrees were awarded. Formerly called "USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences", the College received a $200 million from USC trustees Dana and David Dornsife on March 23, 2011, after which the College was renamed in their honor, following the naming pattern of other professional schools and departments at the University. All Ph.D. degrees awarded at USC and most masters degrees are under the jurisdiction of the Graduate School. Professional degrees are awarded by each of the respective professional schools.
The School of Cinematic Arts, the oldest and largest film school in the country, confers degrees in six different programs. As the university administration considered cinematic skills too valuable to be kept to film industry professionals, the school opened its classes to the university at large in 1998. In 2001, the film school added an Interactive Media Division
studying stereoscopic cinema, panoramic cinema, immersive cinema, interactive cinema, video games, virtual reality, and mobile
media. In September 2006, George Lucas donated $175 million to expand the film school, which at the time was the largest single donation to USC (and its fifth over $100 million). The donation will be used to build new structures and expand the faculty.
The USC School of Architecture
was established within the Roski School of Fine Arts in 1916, the first in Southern California
. This small department grew rapidly with the help of the Allied Architects of Los Angeles. A separate School of Architecture was organized in September 1925. The school has been home to teachers such as Richard Neutra
, Ralph Knowles, James Steele, A. Quincy Jones
, William Pereira
and Pierre Koenig
. The school of architecture also claims notable alumni Frank Gehry
, Jon Jerde
, Thom Mayne
, Raphael Soriano
, Gregory Ain
, and Pierre Koenig
. Two of the alumni have become Pritzker Prize
winners. In 2006, Qingyun Ma
, a distinguished Shanghai-based architect, was named dean of the school.
The USC Thornton School of Music
is one of the most highly regarded music schools in the United States. The training at the Thornton School frequently draws graduate students from such institutions including Juilliard, Oberlin College
, Rice
, and the Eastman School of Music
; and graduates of the Thornton School often go on to study at these and other institutions, such as the Colburn School
, the Curtis Institute of Music
, or the Manhattan School of Music
. The most active source of live music in all of Los Angeles, the Thornton School offers everything from medieval music to current music. In addition to the departments of classical music, there is a department for popular music and even a department of early music, making USC's music school one of the few in the United States that offers specialized degrees in pre-classical music.
The Andrew and Erna Viterbi School of Engineering
is headed by Dean Yannis Yortsos
. Previously known as the USC School of Engineering, it was renamed on March 2, 2004, as the Andrew and Erna Viterbi School of Engineering in honor of Qualcomm
co-founder Andrew Viterbi
and his wife Erna, who had donated $52 million to the school.
The Annenberg School for Communication, founded in 1971 is one of the two communication programs in the country endowed by Walter Annenberg
(the other is at the University of Pennsylvania
). The School of Journalism, which became part of the School for Communication in 1994, features a core curriculum that requires students to devote themselves equally to print, broadcast and online media for the first year of study. USC's Annenberg School for Communication endowment rose from $7.5 million to $218 million between 1996 and 2007.
USC collaborated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University
to offer the USC (Executive) EMBA program in Shanghai
. USC also operates two international study centers in Paris and Madrid. Beginning in 2006, the Marshall School of Business
will have a San Diego satellite campus. In May 2006, USC's Board of Trustees and administration traveled to China
. to announce the establishment of the USC U.S.-China Institute (USCI) joint research institute on U.S–China relations and trends in China. USCI has funded research into a variety of topics including the history of U.S.–China diplomatic exchanges, aging, property rights, environmental challenges, agricultural policy, new media, migration, and technology exchange.
The USC Libraries are among the oldest private academic research libraries in California
. For more than a century USC has been building collections in support of the university's teaching and research interests. Especially noteworthy collections include American literature
, Cinema-Television including the Warner Bros.
studio archives, Europe
an philosophy
, gerontology
, German
exile literature, international relations
, Korean studies
, studies of Latin America
, natural history
, Southern California
history, and the University Archives.
The USC Warner Bros. Archives is the largest single studio collection in the world. Donated in 1977 to the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, by Warner Communications, the WBA houses departmental records that detail Warner Bros. activities from the studio's first major feature, My Four Years in Germany (1918), to its sale to Seven Arts in 1968.
Announced in June 2006, the testimonies of 52,000 survivors, rescuers and others involved in the Holocaust will now be housed in the USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences as a part of the newly formed USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education
.
In addition to the Shoah Foundation, the USC Libraries digital collection highlights include the California Historical Society, Korean American Archives and the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California. The digital archive holds 193,252 records and 223,487 content files of varying formats.
USC's 22 libraries and other archives currently hold nearly 4 million printed volumes, 6 million items in microform
, and 3 million photographs and subscribe to more than 30,000 current serial titles, nearly 44000 feet (13,411.2 m) of manuscripts and archives, and subscribe to over 120 electronic databases and more than 14,000 journals in print and electronic formats. Annually, reference transactions number close to 50,000 and approximately 1,100 instructional presentations are made to 16,000 participants. The University of Southern California Library system is among the top 35 largest university library systems in the United States.
, 48th worldwide in 2011 by Human Resources & Labor Review, and 13th (tied with seven other universities) among national universities by The Center for Measuring University Performance.
USNWR ranks USC's School of Law
18th, the Marshall School of Business
is ranked 9th in undergraduate education with the USC Leventhal School of Accounting 4th, the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies 3rd and 20th for its MBA program, the USC School of Cinematic Arts
is tied with NYU for 1st, Keck School of Medicine of USC
34th in research and unranked in primary care, the Viterbi School of Engineering
11th, and the Rossier School of Education 14th, and the Roski School of Fine arts Graduate program 37th, the School of Policy, Planning, and Development 7th, the USC School of Social Work 8th.
USC was named "College of the Year 2000" by the editors of Time
and The Princeton Review
for the university's extensive community-service programs.
The Princeton Review ranked USC video game design program as 1st out of 150 schools in North America. The university's video game design programs are interdisciplinary, involving the Interactive Media Division of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the GamePipe program in the Department of Computer Science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.
The Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University
ranked USC's combined departments of engineering and computer sciences as 11th in the world, physical sciences 52nd, social sciences 35th, life sciences 51st, clinical medicine and pharmacy 47th. USC is also among top 10 dream colleges in the United States. Princeton Review's "College Hopes & Worries" 2010 survey reports USC as the 9th dream college for both students and parents separately.
USC has a total enrollment of 36,896 students, of which 17,380 are at the undergraduate and 19,516 at the graduate and professional levels. The male-female ratio at USC is nearly 1:1. 31.2% of incoming students are drawn from the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, 20.9% from other areas in California, 39.5% from the rest of the United States, and 8.4% from abroad. USC's student body encompasses 7,115 international students, more than any other university in the United States and the university maintains offices in several countries. There are approximately 200,000 living Trojan Alumni.
for SAT
composite scores was 2020-2230 and the average unweighted GPA was 3.8, while among enrolled freshmen, the SAT range was 1950-2170 and the average GPA was 3.7. 20 percent of admitted and attending students are SCions, or students with familial ties to USC, while 12 percent are the first generation in their family to attend any form of college. There were also 245 National Merit Scholar
winners and 7 National Achievement Scholars in the admitted class. USC ranks among the top five schools in the nation in terms of its enrollment of National Merit Scholars.
USC employs approximately 3,249 full-time faculty, 1,486 part-time faculty, and about 10,744 staff members.
350 postdoctoral fellows are supported along with over 800 medical residents. Among the USC faculty, 12 have been elected to the National Academy of Science, 35 to the National Academy of Engineering
, 13 to the Institute of Medicine
, 21 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
, 75 to the American Association for the Advancement of Science
, 6 to the American Philosophical Society
, and 9 to the National Academy of Public Administration
. 29 USC faculty are listed as among the "Highly Cited" in the Institute for Scientific Information
database. George Olah won the 1994 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
and directs the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute
. Leonard Adleman
won the Turing Award
in 2003.
In fiscal year 2007 USC expended $415.2 million on research, and major funding came from federal agencies: the Department of Health and Human Services granted $182.4 million, Department of Defense
$45.7 million, and National Science Foundation
$41.8 million. Total foundation and association sponsorship totaled $43.1 million, corporate research $30.6 million, and local government funding totaled $28.1 million.
The university has two National Science Foundation
–funded Engineering Research Centers: the Integrated Media Systems Center
and the Center for Biomimetic Microelectronic Systems
.
The Department of Homeland Security
selected USC as its first Homeland Security Center of Excellence. Since 1991, USC has been the headquarters of the NSF
and USGS
funded Southern California Earthquake Center
(SCEC). The University of Southern California is a founding and charter member of CENIC, the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California, the nonprofit organization, which provides extremely high-performance Internet-based networking to California's K-20 research and education community. USC researcher Jonathan Postel was an editor of communications-protocol for the fledgling internet, also known as ARPANET
.
Notable USC faculty include or have included the following: Leonard Adleman
, Richard Bellman
, Aimee Bender
, Barry Boehm
, Warren Bennis
, Todd Boyd
, T.C. Boyle, Drew Casper
, Manuel Castells
, Erwin Chemerinsky
, Thomas Crow
, António Damásio
, Francis De Erdely
, Percival Everett
, Murray Gell-Mann
, Seymour Ginsburg
, G. Thomas Goodnight
, Jane Goodall
, Solomon Golomb, Susan Estrich
, Janet Fitch
, Tomlinson Holman
, Henry Jenkins
, Thomas H. Jordan
, Pierre Koenig
, Leonard Maltin
, Daniel L. McFadden, George Olah, Paul Orfalea
, George V. Chilingar
, Simon Ramo
, Irving Reed
, Michael Waterman
, Frank Gehry
, Arieh Warshel
, Lloyd Welch
, and Diane Winston
.
. Among the notable alumni of the University of Southern California have come prominent musicians, businessmen, engineers, architects, athletes, actors, politicians, and those that have gained both national and international fame. To keep alumni connected, the Trojan network consists of over 100 alumni groups on five continents. A common saying among those associated with the school is that one is a "Trojan for Life".
The USC Trojans participate in the NCAA
Division I (FBS) Pacific-12 Conference and has won 114 total team national championships (non-NCAA and NCAA): 91 for men and 23 for women. Of this total, 78 and 14 are NCAA National Championships for men and women, respectively. The NCAA does not include college football
championships in its calculation. Though there are multiple organizations that name national championships, USC claims 11 football championships. The men's 361 Individual Championships are the second-best in the nation and 53 ahead of third place Texas. USC's cross-town rival is UCLA, with whom there is fierce athletic and scholastic competition. USC's rivalry with Notre Dame
—though generally limited to football—predates the UCLA rivalry
by three years. The Notre Dame rivalry stems mainly from the annual football
game played between these two universities and is considered one of the greatest rivalries in college athletics.
USC has won 92 NCAA team championships, 3rd behind cross-town rival UCLA (106) and Stanford (101). The Trojans have also won at least one national team title in 26 consecutive years (1959–60 to 1984–85). USC won the National College All-Sports Championship, an annual ranking by USA Today
of the country's top athletic programs, 6 times since its inception in 1971. Four Trojans have won the James E. Sullivan Award
as the top amateur athlete in America: diver Sammy Lee
(1953), shot putter Parry O'Brien
(1959), swimmer John Naber
(1977) and swimmer Janet Evans
(1989).
From the 1904 Summer Olympics through the 2004 games, 375 Trojan athletes have competed in the Games, taking home 112 gold medals, 64 silver
and 58 bronze
. If it were an independent country, USC would be ranked 12th in the world in terms of medals. Since 1912, USC is the only university in the world to have a gold medal-winning athlete in every summer Olympiad.
In men's sports, USC has won 92 team national championships (78 NCAA titles) - more than any other school - and male athletes have won a record 296 individual NCAA titles. The Trojans have won 26 championships in track and field
, 19 in tennis
, 12 in baseball
, 9 in swimming
and diving
, 6 in volleyball
, 6 in water polo
, 2 in indoor track and field, and 1 in gymnastics
. USC's men's basketball has appeared in the NCAA tournament
15 times, and made 2 NCAA Final Four
appearances.
The USC football program has consistently ranked among the best in the Division I FBS in recent years. During the term of Pete Carroll
as head coach, the Trojans improved their rankings and competed in a variety of bowls
and championships. The Trojans football has won 11 national championships. 7 players have won the Heisman Trophy
, although the school claims six, after alleged violations involving Reggie Bush. As of 2011, 472 Trojans have been taken in the NFL Draft
, more than any other university. Their 2004 BCS National title was stripped 6/6/2011, but they retained the Associated Press title.
as the top collegiate woman athlete of the year: Cheryl Miller (1983–84) and Angela Williams
(2001–02). And Trojan women have won 8 Honda Awards
, as the top female athlete in their sport.
The Women of Troy have won 7 championships in tennis
, 6 in volleyball
, 3 in water polo, 2 in golf
, 2 in basketball
, 1 in swimming
and diving
, 1 in track and field
, and 1 in soccer.
As one of the oldest universities in California, the University of Southern California has a long and storied history resulting in a number of modern traditions, some of which are outlined here:
USC has rivalries with multiple schools. Though generally limited to football, USC has a major rivalry with Notre Dame
. The annual game is played for the Jeweled Shillelagh
. The rivalry has featured more national championship teams, Heisman trophy winners, All-Americans, and future NFL hall-of-famers than any other collegiate match-up. The two schools have kept the annual game on their schedules since 1926 (except 1942–44 because of World War II travel restrictions) and the game is often referred to as the greatest intersectional rivalry in college football.
USC's cross-town rival is UCLA, with whom there is fierce athletic and scholastic competition. Both are within L.A. city limits, approximately 10 miles (16.1 km) apart. Until 1982 the two schools also shared the same football stadium, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The victor of the annual football game takes home the Victory Bell
. The Trojans and Bruins also compete in a year-long all-sports competition for the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy. Pranks between UCLA and USC were commonplace several decades ago. Both universities have cracked down on pranks since a 1989 incident when USC students released hundreds of crickets
into the main UCLA library
during finals week. Days before a clash between rivals UCLA and USC in 2009, the Bruins mascot was vandalized. It was splashed in cardinal and gold paint, USC's official colors sparking memories of pranks played in the years earlier. The week preceding the annual football matchup with UCLA is known as "Troy Week" and features a number of traditions including CONQUEST! "The Ultimate Trojan Experience", Save Tommy Night, the CONQUEST! Bonfire, and all-night vigils by the Trojan Knights
to protect the campus from UCLA Bruins
.
In addition, USC has rivalries with other Pac-12 schools, namely Stanford as both are the only two private universities in the conference and are situated at opposing regions of California, as well as being the two oldest private research universities in California, 1880 and 1885 respectively.
Traveler, a white Andalusian horse
, is currently the university's official mascot. It first appeared at a football game in 1961, and was known at Traveler I. The current horse is known as Traveler VII.
Tommy Trojan, officially known as the Trojan Shrine, is a bronze statue in the model of a Trojan
warrior at the center of campus. It is commonly mistaken as the school's official mascot. The statue was modeled after Trojan football players, and the statue is engraved with the ideal characteristics of a Trojan. It is a popular meeting point for students and a landmark for visitors.
In the 1940s, George Tirebiter
, a car-chasing dog, was the most popular unofficial mascot. After it bit the mascot of the UCLA Bruins, it gained fame among students. The dog was known to chase down cars on Trousdale Parkway, which runs through campus. After the original dog died, a few others succeeded it. A statue was built in 2006 to honor the unofficial mascot.
USC's marching band
, known as The Spirit of Troy
, has been featured in at least 10 major movie
s, performed in the 1932
and 1984 Summer Olympics
in Los Angeles. They have also performed on television shows and with other musicians.
The band performed on the title track of the 1979
Fleetwood Mac
album Tusk
, which went on to be a multi-platinum record. In 1990, the band performed live on America's Funniest Home Videos
. Additionally, the band later played on another multi-platinum Fleetwood Mac album, The Dance
(1997). The Spirit of Troy is the only collegiate band to have two platinum records. In recent years, the band has appeared at the 2009 Grammy Awards, accompanying Radiohead
; on the 2009 Academy Awards
with Beyoncé Knowles
and Hugh Jackman
; and during the finale of American Idol
2008, backing Renaldo Lapuz
in instrumentation of his original song "We're Brothers Forever." In 2009, the band played on the show Dancing With the Stars
.
The USC band was only one of two American groups invited to march in the Hong Kong
Chinese New Year
parade in 2003 and 2004. The Trojan Marching Band performed at the 2005 World Expo in Nagoya, Japan
. In May 2006, the Trojan Marching Band traveled to Italy
, performing once in Florence, and twice in Rome (including in front of the Coliseum). The band has also, for many years, performed the 1812 Overture
with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (or occasionally with other orchestras) each year at the Hollywood Bowl
"Tchaikovsky Spectacular".
Founded in 1967, the USC Song Girls appear at all football, basketball, and volleyball games as well as rallies, university and alumni functions. Unlike other college cheer teams, Song Girls are primarily a dance squad and do not perform gymnastics, stunts or lead cheers. Founded in 1919, the USC Yell Leaders worked closely with The Spirit of Troy (USC Band) and the Song Girls to lead cheers and perform stunts to rally Trojan fans at football, basketball, and volleyball games. The sweater-clad team consisted of all men for most of its existence, though the squad later opened itself up to applicants from both sexes and did feature one female Yell Leader in 1998. They were disbanded by the University after the 2005–06 season and replaced by the co-ed Spirit Leaders. The Spirit Leaders lead chants and motivate the crowds during Trojan football, basketball, volleyball, water polo, soccer, and baseball games and, like the Song Girls, travel with the team to post-season events such as bowl games and the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
has been the student newspaper
of USC since 1912 and is a primary source of news and information for the campus. It secured the first interview of President Richard Nixon
after his resignation. The publication does not receive financial aid from the university and instead runs entirely on advertisement revenue. Published from Monday to Friday during the fall and spring semesters, the newspaper turns into the Summer Trojan during the summer term and publishes once a week. It is the paper of record on campus.
Trojan Vision
(often abbreviated as TV8) is the Student television station
at USC. TV8 was established in 1997 by the Annenberg School for Communication, but is now a part of the School of Cinematic Arts. Trojan Vision broadcasts 24/7 from the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts to the University Park Campus on Channel 8.1 and online through their website. Programming is also made available to the greater Los Angeles community on local channel LA36. In addition to a selection of regularly airing shows of many genres, Trojan Vision also broadcasts the shows Platforum, a round-table debate show; Annenberg TV News
, a news program
; and CU@USC, an interview program, live every weeknight from 5:30pm to 7:00pm.
El Rodeo is USC's student-run yearbook
. One of the oldest student traditions at the university, the first edition was released in 1889 and was originally called The Sybil. The name was changed to El Rodeo in 1899 to reflect the cowboy-themed events students threw to advertise the yearbook as a "roundup" of the year's events. It was long packaged with the Student Activity Card, which gave students access to all home sports games. Since the card was dissolved in 2007, the yearbook has been sold as a stand-alone item.
, making up approximately a fifth of the student body, has had a long and influential history on the campus. Centered on a portion of West 28th Street known as "The Row", located between Figueroa Street
and Hoover Street just north of campus, USC's Greek system began soon after the school's founding when Kappa Alpha Theta
founded a chapter in 1887.
With 23 fraternities and 11 sororities in the Interfraternity Conference (IFC) and Panhellenic Conference
(PHC), respectively, the USC Greek community has over 2,650 members and is one of the largest on the West Coast. It regularly participates in Homecoming and Songfest, and the community's philanthropic efforts and success in philanthropic leadership annually raise over $150,000.
Outside of the Panhellenic and Interfraternity conferences, the Greek community at USC is very diverse, boasting the Multicultural, Asian, Inter-Fraternity (composed of professional fraternities), and the National Pan-Hellenic
(historically black) Councils. Organizations governed by these councils include chapters of some of the oldest Latino and Black Greek organizations in the country and the oldest Asian fraternity in Southern California; while also including established professional business, engineering, and pre-law fraternities and other multiculturally based groups.
Because of USC's proximity to Hollywood
, close ties between the School of Cinematic Arts and entertainment industry, and the architecture on campus, the university has been used in numerous movies, TV shows, commercials, and music videos. USC serves as a popular spot for filmmakers, standing in for numerous other universities.
Movies filmed at USC include Forrest Gump
, Legally Blonde
, Road Trip, The Girl Next Door, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
, Love & Basketball, Blue Chips
, Ghostbusters
, Live Free or Die Hard
, House Party 2
, The Number 23
, The Social Network
and The Graduate
. TV shows that have used the USC campus include Cold Case, Entourage
, 24
, The O.C.
, Beverly Hills, 90210
, Moesha
, Saved by the Bell: The College Years
, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
, House
, Undeclared
, The West Wing, House, M.D., Alias
, The Office, Monk
, The United States of Tara
, Gilmore Girls
, and The Roommate
. The USC campus also appears on the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles
on its "South Central Map Expansion".
Recently the campus has served as a backdrop for popular television games shows Jeopardy!
and Wheel of Fortune. Other television shows that have been filmed on campus include the 2004 Democratic Primary
Debate, Hardball with Chris Matthews
, The Scholar
, The Best Damn Sports Show Period
, CSI:New York, and College GameDay.
), as clearly stated in all media guide
s: "Note to the media: In editorial references to athletic teams of the University of Southern California, the following are preferred: USC, Southern California, So. California, Troy and Trojans for men's or women's teams, and Women of Troy for women's teams. PLEASE do not use Southern Cal (it's like calling San Francisco 'Frisco' or North Carolina 'North Car.'). The usage of 'Southern Cal' on licensed apparel and merchandise is limited in scope and necessary to protect federal trademark
rights."
c. Specifically Seoul
, South Korea
; Hong Kong
, China; Jakarta
, Indonesia
; Taipei
, Taiwan
; Mexico City
; and Tokyo
, Japan
. USC International Offices
d. The NCAA does not conduct a championship for Football Bowl Subdivision football. Instead, teams are awarded championships by various private organizations, currently the recognized championships are awarded by the Bowl Championship Series
and titles by the Associated Press
.
e. The precise colors can be found on the USC Graphic Identity Program website: the correct Pantone
color for USC Cardinal is PMS 201C and USC Gold is PMS 123C.
Private university
Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...
, not-for-profit, nonsectarian
Nonsectarian
Nonsectarian, in its most literal sense, refers to a lack of sectarianism. The term is also more narrowly used to describe secular private educational institutions or other organizations either not affiliated with or not restricted to a particular religious denomination though the organization...
, research university located in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university. USC's development has closely paralleled the growth of Los Angeles, and the university historically has educated a large number of the city's business leaders and professionals. In recent decades, the university has also leveraged its location in Los Angeles to establish relationships with research institutions throughout Asia and the Pacific Rim. Reflecting the status of Los Angeles as a global city, USC has one of the most diverse student bodies of any major research university.
USC's four year, full-time undergraduate program enrolled 17,380 undergraduate students in Fall 2010. USC is also home to 19,516 graduate and professional students in a number of different programs, including business, law, social work, and medicine. The university has a "very high" level of research activity and received $463.7 million in sponsored research from 2008 to 2009. USC was named "College of the Year 2000" by the editors of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
and The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review operates in 41 states and 22 countries across the globe. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college...
for the university's extensive community-service programs. In recent years USC has risen quickly in various rankings, including the U.S. News survey of U.S. universities, to 23rd place in 2011. USC students hail from 112 countries, and all 50 states in the United States.
USC sponsors a variety of intercollegiate sports and competes in the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
Pacific-12 Conference. Members of the sports teams, the Trojans
USC Trojans
The USC Trojans are the athletic teams representing the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the Trojans, the women's athletic teams are referred to as either the Trojans or Women of Troy...
, have won 93 NCAA team championships, ranking them third in the nation, and 361 NCAA individual championships, ranking them second in the nation. Trojan athletes have won 236 medals at the Olympic games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
.
History
Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...
former-Governor, John Gately Downey, and a German Jewish banker, Isaias W. Hellman
Isaias W. Hellman
Isaias Wolf Hellman was a German-Jewish banker and philanthropist, and a founding father of the University of Southern California.-Biography:...
. The three donated 308 lots of land to establish the campus and provided the necessary seed money for the construction of the first buildings. Originally operated in affiliation with the Methodist Church, the school mandated from the start that "no student would be denied admission because of race." The university is no longer affiliated with any church, having severed formal ties in 1952.
When USC opened in 1880, tuition was $15.00 per term and students were not allowed to leave town without the knowledge and consent of the university president. The school had an enrollment of 53 students and a faculty of 10. The city lacked paved streets, electric lights, telephones, and a reliable fire alarm system. Its first graduating class in 1884 was a class of three—two males and female valedictorian
Valedictorian
Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...
Minnie C. Miltimore.
The colors of USC are cardinal and gold, which were approved by USC's third president, the Reverend George W. White
George W. White
The Reverend George W. White was the third president of the University of Southern California. He held office from 1895 to 1899. At the time of his appointment, he was presiding elder of the Los Angeles District of the Methodist Episcopal Conference....
, in 1895. In 1958 the shade of gold, which was originally more of an orange color, was changed to a more yellow shade. The letterman's awards were the first to make the change.
Trojan Shrine
Tommy Trojan, officially known as the Trojan Shrine, is one of the most recognizable figures of school pride at the University of Southern California. The life-size bronze statue of a Trojan warrior sits in the center of campus and serves as a popular meeting spot, as well as a centerpiece for a...
, nicknamed "Tommy Trojan", near the center of campus. Until 1912, USC students (especially athletes) were known as Fighting Methodists or Wesleyans, though neither name was approved by the university. During a fateful track and field meet with Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, the USC team was beaten early and seemingly conclusively. After only the first few events, it seemed implausible that USC would ever win; however, the team fought back, winning many of the later events, to lose only by a slight margin. After this contest, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
sportswriter Owen Bird reported that the USC athletes "fought on like Trojans
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
," and the president of the university at the time, George F. Bovard
George F. Bovard
George Finley Bovard was the fourth president of the University of Southern California, serving from 1903 to 1921. Bovard administration building is named after him. His brother, Marion McKinley Bovard, was the university's first president.-References:***...
, approved the name officially.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, USC was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program
V-12 Navy College Training Program
The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II...
which offered students a path to a Navy commission.
USC is responsible for $4 billion in economic output in Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...
; USC students spend $406 million yearly in the local economy and visitors to the campus add another $12.3 million.
For much of the late 20th century, USC had a reputation for being a politically conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
campus. In the politically charged times of the 1960s–70s, and in stark contrast to the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
campuses, USC was one of the few campuses in California where then-Governor
Governor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
could visit without additional protection. This image may have been reinforced by the fact that in the early seventies, several conservative Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
alumni, known collectively as the "USC mafia", served on then President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
's staff as well as during Nixon's reelection campaign, which was later tainted by the Watergate scandal
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
. In the 1960s, the corruption between conservative factions in student politics was noted in the screenplay for All the President's Men
All the President's Men (film)
All the President's Men is a 1976 Academy Award-winning political thriller film based on the 1974 non-fiction book of the same name by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two journalists investigating the Watergate scandal for The Washington Post...
; the term ratfucking originates from that period. By the 1990s, the conservative majority began to lose ground to an increasingly liberal voice, which has been attributed to the growing diversity, both regional and ethnic, of the student body; student membership in the USC Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
has surpassed that of the USC Republicans in recent years.
Campus
West Adams, Los Angeles, California
West Adams, also known as Historic West Adams, is a large district located in the center of Los Angeles, California, southwest of Downtown and west of USC...
district of South Los Angeles
South Los Angeles
South Los Angeles, often abbreviated as South L.A. and formerly South Central Los Angeles, is the official name for a large geographic and cultural portion lying to the southwest and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California. The area was formerly called South Central, and is still widely known...
, 2 miles (3.2 km) southwest of Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
. The campus' boundaries are Jefferson Boulevard on the north and northeast, Figueroa Street on the southeast, Exposition Boulevard on the south, and Vermont Avenue on the west. Since the 1960s, through campus vehicle traffic has been banned. The University Park campus is within walking distance to Los Angeles landmarks such as the Shrine Auditorium
Shrine Auditorium
The Shrine Auditorium is a landmark large-event venue, in Los Angeles, California, USA. It is also the headquarters of the Al Malaikah Temple, a division of the Shriners.-History:...
, Staples Center
Staples Center
Staples Center is a multi-purpose sports arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Adjacent to the L.A. Live development, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street. Opening on October 17, 1999, it is one of the major sporting facilities in the Greater Los Angeles...
, and Los Angeles Coliseum. Most buildings are in the Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
style, although some dormitories, engineering buildings, and physical sciences labs are of various Modernist styles (especially two large Brutalist
Brutalist architecture
Brutalist architecture is a style of architecture which flourished from the 1950s to the mid 1970s, spawned from the modernist architectural movement.-The term "brutalism":...
dormitories at the campus' northern edge) that sharply contrast with the predominantly red-brick campus. Widney Alumni House, built in 1880, is the oldest university building in Southern California. In recent years the campus has been renovated to remove the vestiges of old roads and replace them with traditional university quad
Quadrangle (architecture)
In architecture, a quadrangle is a space or courtyard, usually rectangular in plan, the sides of which are entirely or mainly occupied by parts of a large building. The word is probably most closely associated with college or university campus architecture, but quadrangles may be found in other...
s and gardens.
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
center in Irvine
Irvine, California
Irvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...
for business, pharmacy, social work and education; and the Information Sciences Institute
Information Sciences Institute
The Information Sciences Institute is a research and development unit of the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering which focuses on computer and communications technology and information processing...
, with centers in Arlington, Virginia
Arlington County, Virginia
Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The land that became Arlington was originally donated by Virginia to the United States government to form part of the new federal capital district. On February 27, 1801, the United States Congress organized the area as a subdivision of...
and Marina del Rey
Marina del Rey, California
-Demographics:-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Marina del Rey had a population of 8,866. The population density was 6,094.6 people per square mile...
. For its science students, USC operates the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies
USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies
The USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies is an environmental research and education facility run by the University of Southern California...
located on Catalina Island
Santa Catalina Island, California
Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is...
just 20 miles (32.2 km) off the coast of Los Angeles and home to the Philip K. Wrigley Marine Science Center.
The School of Policy, Planning, and Development also runs a satellite campus in Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
. In 2005, USC established a federal relations office in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
A Health Sciences Alhambra
Alhambra, California
Alhambra is a city located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, which is approximately eight miles from the Downtown Los Angeles civic center. As of the 2010 census, the population was 83,089, down from 85,804 at the 2000 census. The city's...
campus holds The Primary Care Physician Assistant Program, the Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research (IPR), and the Masters in Public Health Program.
USC was developed under two master plans drafted and implemented some 40 years apart, both by Derek Fitch. The first was prepared by the Parkinsons
The Parkinsons
John B. and Donald D. Parkinson were a father-and-son architectural team operating in Los Angeles in the early 20th century.-Early years:...
in 1920, which guided much of the campus' early construction and established its Romanesque style and 45-degree building orientation.
Norman Topping
Norman Topping was the President of the University of Southern California between 1958 and 1970. He succeeded Fred D. Fagg, Jr., and was succeeded by John R. Hubbard. He was chancellor between 1971 and 1980. He became emeritus chancellor in 1980.Dr. Topping was an BA and MD alumnus of USC and...
, campus development director Anthony Lazzaro
Anthony Lazzaro (university administrator)
Anthony Lazzaro is a senior vice president emeritus of the University of Southern California.Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Lazzaro was called to active U.S. Navy duty shortly after graduating from the New York Maritime College. After serving in the Pacific theater aboard the...
, and architect William Pereira
William Pereira
William Leonard Pereira was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois, of Portuguese ancestry who was noted for his futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco...
. This plan annexed a great deal of the surrounding city and many of the older non-university structures within the new boundaries were leveled. Most of the Pereira buildings were constructed in the 1970s. Pereira maintained a predominantly red-brick architecture for the new buildings, but infused them with his trademark techno-modernism stylings.
USC's role in making visible and sustained improvements in the neighborhoods surrounding both the University Park and Health Sciences campuses earned it the distinction of College of the Year 2000 by the Time/Princeton Review College Guide.
Roughly half of the university's students volunteer in community-service programs in neighborhoods around campus and throughout Los Angeles. These outreach programs, as well as previous administrations' commitment to remaining in South Los Angeles
South Los Angeles
South Los Angeles, often abbreviated as South L.A. and formerly South Central Los Angeles, is the official name for a large geographic and cultural portion lying to the southwest and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California. The area was formerly called South Central, and is still widely known...
amid widespread calls to move the campus following the 1965 Watts Riots
Watts Riots
The Watts Riots or the Watts Rebellion was a civil disturbance in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California from August 11 to August 15, 1965. The 5-day riot resulted in 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, and 3,438 arrests...
, are credited for the safety of the university during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots
1992 Los Angeles riots
The 1992 Los Angeles Riots or South Central Riots, also known as the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest were sparked on April 29, 1992, when a jury acquitted three white and one hispanic Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King following a...
. (That the university emerged from the riots completely unscathed is all the more remarkable in light of the complete destruction of several strip mall
Strip mall
A strip mall is an open-area shopping center where the stores are arranged in a row, with a sidewalk in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a unit and have large parking lots in front...
s in the area, including one just across Vermont Avenue from the campus' western entrance). The ZIP code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
for USC is 90089 and the surrounding University Park community is 90007.
As well, USC has an endowment of $3.7 billion and also is allocated $430 million per year in sponsored research. USC became the only university to receive eight separate nine-figure gifts: $120 million from Ambassador Walter Annenberg
Walter Annenberg
Walter Hubert Annenberg was an American publisher, philanthropist, and diplomat.-Early life:Walter Annenberg was born to a Jewish family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 13, 1908. He was the son of Sarah and Moses "Moe" Annenberg, who published The Daily Racing Form and purchased The Philadelphia...
to create the Annenberg Center for Communication
Annenberg Center for Communication
The Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California promotes interdisciplinary research in communications between the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Viterbi School of Engineering, and the separate USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, also funded by...
and a later additional gift of $100 million for the USC Annenberg School for Communication
USC Annenberg School for Communication
The USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism comprises a School ofCommunication and a School of Journalism at the University of Southern California . It is led by Dean Ernest J. Wilson III, Ph.D....
; $112.5 million from Alfred Mann
Alfred E. Mann
Alfred E. Mann , who is also known as Al Mann, is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist. According to Forbes magazine, his estimated net worth exceeded $2.2 billion as of 2007, ranking him the 204th richest man in America and the 390th richest man in the world.Born and raised in Portland, his...
to establish the Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering
Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering
The Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering, commonly known as the Alfred Mann Institute, AMI or Mann Institute of Biomedical Engineering, is located on the University Park campus of the University of Southern California...
; $110 million from the W. M. Keck Foundation
W. M. Keck Foundation
The W. M. Keck Foundation is an American charitable foundation supporting scientific, engineering, and medical research in the United States. It was founded in 1954 by William Myron Keck, founder and president of Superior Oil Company . The Foundation's trust fund currently has assets in excess of 1...
for USC's School of Medicine
Keck School of Medicine of USC
The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California is a major center of medical research, education and patient care. Founded in 1885, the Keck School of Medicine is the oldest medical school in Southern California.Located on the university’s Health Sciences campus three miles ...
; $150 million from the W. M. Keck Foundation
W. M. Keck Foundation
The W. M. Keck Foundation is an American charitable foundation supporting scientific, engineering, and medical research in the United States. It was founded in 1954 by William Myron Keck, founder and president of Superior Oil Company . The Foundation's trust fund currently has assets in excess of 1...
for USC's School of Medicine
Keck School of Medicine of USC
The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California is a major center of medical research, education and patient care. Founded in 1885, the Keck School of Medicine is the oldest medical school in Southern California.Located on the university’s Health Sciences campus three miles ...
; $175 million from George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
to the USC School of Cinema-Television, now renamed USC School of Cinematic Arts
USC School of Cinematic Arts
The USC School of Cinematic Arts, until 2006 named the School of Cinema-Television , is a film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest and largest such school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of...
, $200 million from Dana and David Dornsife for USC's College of Letters, Arts and Sciences to support undergraduate and Ph.D. programs and $110 million from John and Julie Mork for undergraduate scholarships.
Major new facilities opened with the infusion of new money include:
- The USC Medical CenterLos Angeles County-USC Medical CenterLos Angeles County+USC Medical Center, also known as County/USC, by the abbreviation LAC+USC, or by the name Los Angeles County General, is a 600-bed public teaching hospital located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California...
- The Leavey Library
- The USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer CenterUSC Norris Comprehensive Cancer CenterThe USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center is a leader in cancer research, with nearly 200 members investigating the complex origins and progression of cancer, developing prevention strategies and searching for cures...
expansion - The Zilkha Neurogenetic InstituteZilkha Neurogenetic InstituteThe Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute on the University of Southern California campus is facility dedicated to research in the areas of neurological and psychiatric diseases. It is an organized research unit of the Keck School of Medicine of USC....
- The International Residential College at Parkside
- The Marshall School of BusinessMarshall School of BusinessThe USC Marshall School of Business is a private research and academic institution at the University of Southern California. It is the largest of USC's 17 professional schools. The current Dean is James G. Ellis. In 1997 the school was renamed following a US$35 million donation from alumnus Gordon S...
's Popovich Hall - The Galen CenterGalen CenterThe Galen Center is a multipurpose indoor arena and athletic facility owned and operated by the University of Southern California. Located at the southeast corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Figueroa Street in the Exposition Park area of Los Angeles, it is right across the street from the campus and...
– home to USC BasketballUSC Trojans BasketballThe University of Southern California Trojans men's basketball program is the college basketball team that competes in the Pacific-12 Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and represents the University of Southern California on the court.The program began playing...
and USC VolleyballUSC VolleyballThe USC Trojans women's volleyball team is currently coached by Mick Haley, who began in 2001. Under Haley, USC became the first repeat NCAA Volleyball National Champion in 2002-03 since Stanford in 1996-97... - The USC School of Cinematic ArtsUSC School of Cinematic ArtsThe USC School of Cinematic Arts, until 2006 named the School of Cinema-Television , is a film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest and largest such school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of...
Complex - The USC Ronald Tutor Campus Center and Trojan Plaza
- The University Gateway Student Housing and Retail Center
Major new facilities that are being developed or under construction include:
- The John McKay Hall – the New USC Football Complex, Plaza, and Gardens
- The University Village Shopping Center, Campus Offices, and Student Housing Redevelopment Project
- The University Park 2030 Master Plan
The USC main campus is served by several Metro
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is the California state-chartered regional transportation planning agency and public transportation operating agency for the County of Los Angeles formed in 1993 out of a merger of the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the...
bus routes as well as LADOT DASH Route F. In addition, the Metro Expo Line, a light-rail line currently under construction, will serve the campus when it opens in appx. 2011. The Expo Line will have three stations in the vicinity of the USC main campus: Jefferson/USC Station, Expo Park/USC Station, and Vermont/Expo Station.
Health Sciences campus
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, gene therapy
Gene therapy
Gene therapy is the insertion, alteration, or removal of genes within an individual's cells and biological tissues to treat disease. It is a technique for correcting defective genes that are responsible for disease development...
, the neuroscience
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
s, and transplantation biology
Organ transplant
Organ transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...
, among others. The 50 acres (20.2 ha) campus is home to the region's first and oldest medical and pharmacy schools, as well as acclaimed programs in physical therapy
Physical therapy
Physical therapy , often abbreviated PT, is a health care profession. Physical therapy is concerned with identifying and maximizing quality of life and movement potential within the spheres of promotion, prevention, diagnosis, treatment/intervention,and rehabilitation...
and occupational therapy
Occupational therapy
Occupational therapy is a discipline that aims to promote health by enabling people to perform meaningful and purposeful activities. Occupational therapists work with individuals who suffer from a mentally, physically, developmentally, and/or emotionally disabling condition by utilizing treatments...
(which are ranked #1 and #3 respectively by U.S. News & World Report). As well, USC physicians serve more than one million patients each year.
In addition to the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center
Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center
Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, also known as County/USC, by the abbreviation LAC+USC, or by the name Los Angeles County General, is a 600-bed public teaching hospital located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California...
, which is one of the nation's largest teaching hospitals, the campus includes three patient care facilities: USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
The USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center is a leader in cancer research, with nearly 200 members investigating the complex origins and progression of cancer, developing prevention strategies and searching for cures...
, USC University Hospital
USC University Hospital
The USC University Hospital is a private teaching hospital, part of the Keck School of Medicine, located on the University of Southern California Health Sciences Campus adjacent to the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in East Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.- External links :* * *...
, and the Doheny Eye Institute. USC faculty staffs these and many other hospitals in Southern California, including the nationally acclaimed Children's Hospital Los Angeles
Children's Hospital Los Angeles
Children's Hospital Los Angeles, formerly Childrens Hospital Society, is a private, non-profit teaching hospital in Los Angeles. The hospital provides multidisciplinary care to over 93,000 children each year, with physician expertise in over 100 pediatric specialties and subspecialties.The hospital...
. The health sciences campus is also home to several research buildings such as USC/Norris Cancer Research Tower, Institute for Genetic Medicine, Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute
Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute
The Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute on the University of Southern California campus is facility dedicated to research in the areas of neurological and psychiatric diseases. It is an organized research unit of the Keck School of Medicine of USC....
, Harlyne J. Norris Cancer Research Tower and Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research.
Former agricultural college campus
Chaffey CollegeChaffey College
Chaffey College is a public community college in the San Bernardino County city of Rancho Cucamonga, California, in the northern part of the community of Alta Loma. Chaffey provides students with different classes and programs, including business, science, the arts, history, philosophy,...
was founded in 1883 in the city of Ontario, California
Ontario, California
Ontario is a city located in San Bernardino County, California, United States, 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire region, it lies just east of the Los Angeles county line and is part of the Greater Los Angeles Area...
, as an agricultural college branch campus of USC under the name of Chaffey College of Agriculture of the University of Southern California. USC ran the Chaffey College of Agriculture until financial troubles closed the school in 1901. In 1906 the school was reopened by municipal and regional government and officially separated from USC. Renamed as Chaffey College, it now exists as a junior college
Junior college
The term junior college refers to different educational institutions in different countries.-India:In India, most states provide schooling through 12th grade...
as part of the California Community College System.
Organization and administration
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
controlled by a Board of Trustees composed of 50 voting members and several life trustees, honorary trustees, and trustees emeriti
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
who do not vote. Voting members of the Board of Trustees are elected for five-year terms. One fifth of the Trustees stand for re-election each year, and votes are cast only by the trustees not standing for election. Trustees tend to be high-ranking executives of large corporations (both domestic and international), successful alumni, members of the upper echelons of university administration, or some combination of the three.
The university administration consists of a president, a provost
Provost (education)
A provost is the senior academic administrator at many institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and Australia, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland....
, several vice-presidents of various departments, a treasurer, a chief information officer
Chief information officer
Chief information officer , or information technology director, is a job title commonly given to the most senior executive in an enterprise responsible for the information technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals...
, and an athletic director
Athletic director
An athletic director is an administrator at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic programs...
. The current president is C. L. Max Nikias
C. L. Max Nikias
Chrysostomos L. "Max" Nikias is the current President of the University of Southern California . His term as the 11th president of the university began on August 3, 2010.-Personal life and education:...
. In 2008, Nikias' predecessor, Steven Sample
Steven Sample
Steven Browning Sample was the 10th president of the University of Southern California . He became president in 1991 and was succeeded by C.L. Max Nikias on August 3, 2010.-Background:Sample holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D...
, was one of the highest paid university presidents in the United States with a salary of $1.9 million.
The USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, the Graduate School, and the 17 professional schools are each led by an academic dean
Academic administration
An academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint responsibilities...
. USC occasionally awards emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
titles to former administrators. There are currently six administrators emeriti.
The University of Southern California's 17 professional schools include the USC Leventhal School of Accounting, USC School of Architecture
USC School of Architecture
The USC School of Architecture is the architecture school at the University of Southern California. It is one of USC's 17 professional schools, offering both undergraduate and graduate degrees in the fields of architecture, civil engineering, landscape architecture and historic preservation...
, USC Marshall School of Business
Marshall School of Business
The USC Marshall School of Business is a private research and academic institution at the University of Southern California. It is the largest of USC's 17 professional schools. The current Dean is James G. Ellis. In 1997 the school was renamed following a US$35 million donation from alumnus Gordon S...
, USC School of Cinematic Arts
USC School of Cinematic Arts
The USC School of Cinematic Arts, until 2006 named the School of Cinema-Television , is a film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest and largest such school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of...
, USC Annenberg School for Communication
USC Annenberg School for Communication
The USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism comprises a School ofCommunication and a School of Journalism at the University of Southern California . It is led by Dean Ernest J. Wilson III, Ph.D....
, USC School of Dentistry
University of Southern California School of Dentistry
The Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry was established in 1897 as simply the "University of Southern California School of Dentistry," and graduated its first class of 11 students in 1900. In 2010, the school was renamed after a $35 million dollar donation by a USC alumnus, and the school was...
, USC Rossier School of Education
USC Rossier School of Education
The University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education is one of the graduate schools of the University of Southern California. The Rossier School offers six Masters degree programs, a Doctor of Education degree, and a Ph.D. in Urban Education Policy. The Rossier School places an...
, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, USC Roski School of Fine Arts, USC Davis School of Gerontology
Leonard Davis School of Gerontology
The Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California, a leader in the field of gerontology, has pioneered educational programs including the world's first Ph.D. in Gerontology, the first joint Master's degree in Gerontology and Business Administration, and the first...
, USC Gould School of Law, Keck School of Medicine of USC
Keck School of Medicine of USC
The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California is a major center of medical research, education and patient care. Founded in 1885, the Keck School of Medicine is the oldest medical school in Southern California.Located on the university’s Health Sciences campus three miles ...
, USC Thornton School of Music
USC Thornton School of Music
The University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, founded in 1884 and dedicated in 1999, is one of the premier music schools in the United States...
, USC School of Pharmacy, USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development
School of Policy, Planning, and Development
The USC Sol Price School of Public Policy , previously known as School of Policy, Planning, and Development , at the University of Southern California is a leading urban planning, public policy and public administration school in the United States...
, USC School of Social Work, and USC School of Theatre
USC School of Theatre
The USC School of Theatre is the acting school with the University of Southern California. Multiple undergraduate and graduate degrees are offered within the school. The current dean is Madelin Puzo.-Notable SOT alumni:...
.
Student government
List of university presidents
- Marion M. Bovard (1880–1891)
- Joseph P. Widney (1892–1895)
- George W. WhiteGeorge W. WhiteThe Reverend George W. White was the third president of the University of Southern California. He held office from 1895 to 1899. At the time of his appointment, he was presiding elder of the Los Angeles District of the Methodist Episcopal Conference....
(1895–1899) - George F. BovardGeorge F. BovardGeorge Finley Bovard was the fourth president of the University of Southern California, serving from 1903 to 1921. Bovard administration building is named after him. His brother, Marion McKinley Bovard, was the university's first president.-References:***...
(1903–1921) - Rufus B. von KleinSmidRufus B. von KleinSmidRufus Bernhard von KleinSmid was the Seventh President of the University of Arizona . and the Fifth President of the University of Southern California ....
(1921–1947) - Fred D. Fagg, Jr.Fred D. Fagg, Jr.Fred Dow Fagg, Jr. was president of the University of Southern California between 1947 and 1957. Fagg attended the University of Redlands where he was a member of Kappa Sigma Sigma. He received a law degree in 1927 from Northwestern University and later taught there. He was the fourth dean of...
(1947–1957) - Norman ToppingNorman ToppingNorman Topping was the President of the University of Southern California between 1958 and 1970. He succeeded Fred D. Fagg, Jr., and was succeeded by John R. Hubbard. He was chancellor between 1971 and 1980. He became emeritus chancellor in 1980.Dr. Topping was an BA and MD alumnus of USC and...
(1958–1970) - John R. HubbardJohn R. HubbardJohn Randolph "Jack" Hubbard was the eighth president of the University of Southern California between 1970-80. He succeeded Norman Topping and was succeeded by James Zumberge. He had served as USC vice president and provost in 1969 after spending four years in India as chief education adviser to...
(1970–1980) - James H. ZumbergeJames ZumbergeJames Herbert Zumberge was a professor of geology and president of Grand Valley State University from 1962 to 1969, of Southern Methodist University from 1975 to 1980, and of the University of Southern California from 1980 to 1991.-Early life and education:James Herbert Zumberge was born in...
(1980–1991) - Steven B. SampleSteven B. SampleSteven Browning Sample was the 10th president of the University of Southern California . He became president in 1991 and was succeeded by C.L. Max Nikias on August 3, 2010.-Background:Sample holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D...
(1991–2010) - C. L. Max NikiasC. L. Max NikiasChrysostomos L. "Max" Nikias is the current President of the University of Southern California . His term as the 11th president of the university began on August 3, 2010.-Personal life and education:...
(2010–present)
Academics
Western Association of Schools and Colleges
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges is one of six official academic bodies responsible for the accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary and elementary schools in the United States and foreign institutions of American origin. The Western Association of...
. The university was elected to the Association of American Universities
Association of American Universities
The Association of American Universities is an organization of leading research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education...
in 1969. USC's academic departments fall either under the general liberal arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
and science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
s of the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences for undergraduates, the Graduate School for graduates, or the university's 17 professional schools.
The School of Cinematic Arts, the oldest and largest film school in the country, confers degrees in six different programs. As the university administration considered cinematic skills too valuable to be kept to film industry professionals, the school opened its classes to the university at large in 1998. In 2001, the film school added an Interactive Media Division
USC Interactive Media Division
The University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts's Interactive Media Division first accepted students in 2002. In addition to coursework in film production, screenwriting, and animation, students in the division study across three disciplines within interactive media: immersive...
studying stereoscopic cinema, panoramic cinema, immersive cinema, interactive cinema, video games, virtual reality, and mobile
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
media. In September 2006, George Lucas donated $175 million to expand the film school, which at the time was the largest single donation to USC (and its fifth over $100 million). The donation will be used to build new structures and expand the faculty.
The USC School of Architecture
USC School of Architecture
The USC School of Architecture is the architecture school at the University of Southern California. It is one of USC's 17 professional schools, offering both undergraduate and graduate degrees in the fields of architecture, civil engineering, landscape architecture and historic preservation...
was established within the Roski School of Fine Arts in 1916, the first in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
. This small department grew rapidly with the help of the Allied Architects of Los Angeles. A separate School of Architecture was organized in September 1925. The school has been home to teachers such as Richard Neutra
Richard Neutra
Richard Joseph Neutra is considered one of modernism's most important architects.- Biography :Neutra was born in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Vienna, Austria Hungary, on April 8, 1892. He was born into both-Jewish wealthy family...
, Ralph Knowles, James Steele, A. Quincy Jones
A. Quincy Jones
Archibald Quincy Jones, FAIA was a prolific Los Angeles-based architect and educator known for innovative buildings in the modernist style and for urban planning that pioneered the use of greenbelts and green design.-Childhood and early career:...
, William Pereira
William Pereira
William Leonard Pereira was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois, of Portuguese ancestry who was noted for his futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco...
and Pierre Koenig
Pierre Koenig
Pierre Koenig was an American architect.Born in San Francisco, he received his B.Arch. in 1952 from the University of Southern California. Koenig apprenticed under Raphael Soriano, among others, and began private practice in 1952. Koenig practiced mainly on the west coast and was most notable for...
. The school of architecture also claims notable alumni Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
, Jon Jerde
Jon Jerde
Jon Jerde is an American architect based in Venice, California, Founder & Chairman of , a design architecture and urban planning firm that pioneered the concept of placemaking and "experience architecture;" and has created multiple award-winning commercial developments around the globe...
, Thom Mayne
Thom Mayne
Thom Mayne is a Los Angeles-based architect. Educated at University of Southern California and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1978, Mayne helped found the Southern California Institute of Architecture in 1972, where he is a trustee...
, Raphael Soriano
Raphael Soriano
Raphael S. Soriano, FAIA, was an influential architect and educator who helped define a period of 20th century architecture that came to be known as Mid-century modern...
, Gregory Ain
Gregory Ain
Gregory Ain was an American architect active in the mid-20th century. Working primarily in the Los Angeles area, Ain is best known for bringing elements of modern architecture to lower- and medium-cost housing.- Biography :...
, and Pierre Koenig
Pierre Koenig
Pierre Koenig was an American architect.Born in San Francisco, he received his B.Arch. in 1952 from the University of Southern California. Koenig apprenticed under Raphael Soriano, among others, and began private practice in 1952. Koenig practiced mainly on the west coast and was most notable for...
. Two of the alumni have become Pritzker Prize
Pritzker Prize
The Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually by the Hyatt Foundation to honour "a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built...
winners. In 2006, Qingyun Ma
Qingyun Ma
Qingyun Ma is a Chinese architect.Born in Xi'an, China, Ma received a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering in Architecture from Tsinghua University...
, a distinguished Shanghai-based architect, was named dean of the school.
The USC Thornton School of Music
USC Thornton School of Music
The University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, founded in 1884 and dedicated in 1999, is one of the premier music schools in the United States...
is one of the most highly regarded music schools in the United States. The training at the Thornton School frequently draws graduate students from such institutions including Juilliard, Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
, Rice
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
, and the Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
; and graduates of the Thornton School often go on to study at these and other institutions, such as the Colburn School
Colburn School
The Colburn School is a music, dance, and drama school located in downtown Los Angeles adjacent to the Museum of Contemporary Art and across the street from the Walt Disney Concert Hall...
, the Curtis Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
, or the Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
. The most active source of live music in all of Los Angeles, the Thornton School offers everything from medieval music to current music. In addition to the departments of classical music, there is a department for popular music and even a department of early music, making USC's music school one of the few in the United States that offers specialized degrees in pre-classical music.
The Andrew and Erna Viterbi School of Engineering
Viterbi School of Engineering
The Viterbi School of Engineering is located at the University of Southern California in the United States. It was renamed following a $52 million donation by Andrew Viterbi...
is headed by Dean Yannis Yortsos
Yanis C. Yortsos
Yannis C. Yortsos is a professor of chemical engineering and petroleum engineering at the University of Southern California. Since June 2005, he has served as Dean of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and has held the Zohrab A. Kaprielian Chair in Engineering. He has also held the Chester F....
. Previously known as the USC School of Engineering, it was renamed on March 2, 2004, as the Andrew and Erna Viterbi School of Engineering in honor of Qualcomm
Qualcomm
Qualcomm is an American global telecommunication corporation that designs, manufactures and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services based on its code division multiple access technology and other technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA...
co-founder Andrew Viterbi
Andrew Viterbi
Andrew James Viterbi, Ph.D. is an Italian-American electrical engineer and businessman who co-founded Qualcomm Inc....
and his wife Erna, who had donated $52 million to the school.
Walter Annenberg
Walter Hubert Annenberg was an American publisher, philanthropist, and diplomat.-Early life:Walter Annenberg was born to a Jewish family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 13, 1908. He was the son of Sarah and Moses "Moe" Annenberg, who published The Daily Racing Form and purchased The Philadelphia...
(the other is at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
). The School of Journalism, which became part of the School for Communication in 1994, features a core curriculum that requires students to devote themselves equally to print, broadcast and online media for the first year of study. USC's Annenberg School for Communication endowment rose from $7.5 million to $218 million between 1996 and 2007.
USC collaborated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Shanghai Jiao Tong University or SJTU), sometimes referred to as Shanghai Jiaotong University , is a top public research university located in Shanghai, China. Shanghai Jiao Tong University is known as one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China...
to offer the USC (Executive) EMBA program in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. USC also operates two international study centers in Paris and Madrid. Beginning in 2006, the Marshall School of Business
Marshall School of Business
The USC Marshall School of Business is a private research and academic institution at the University of Southern California. It is the largest of USC's 17 professional schools. The current Dean is James G. Ellis. In 1997 the school was renamed following a US$35 million donation from alumnus Gordon S...
will have a San Diego satellite campus. In May 2006, USC's Board of Trustees and administration traveled to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. to announce the establishment of the USC U.S.-China Institute (USCI) joint research institute on U.S–China relations and trends in China. USCI has funded research into a variety of topics including the history of U.S.–China diplomatic exchanges, aging, property rights, environmental challenges, agricultural policy, new media, migration, and technology exchange.
University library system
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. For more than a century USC has been building collections in support of the university's teaching and research interests. Especially noteworthy collections include American literature
American literature
American literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British...
, Cinema-Television including the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
studio archives, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, gerontology
Gerontology
Gerontology is the study of the social, psychological and biological aspects of aging...
, German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
exile literature, international relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
, Korean studies
Korean studies
Korean studies is an academic discipline, focusing on the study of Korea. Areas commonly included under this rubric include Korean history, Korean literature, Korean art, Korean music, Korean language, Korean sociology, Korean political science, Korean economics, Korean folklore, and Korean...
, studies of Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
, Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
history, and the University Archives.
The USC Warner Bros. Archives is the largest single studio collection in the world. Donated in 1977 to the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, by Warner Communications, the WBA houses departmental records that detail Warner Bros. activities from the studio's first major feature, My Four Years in Germany (1918), to its sale to Seven Arts in 1968.
Announced in June 2006, the testimonies of 52,000 survivors, rescuers and others involved in the Holocaust will now be housed in the USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences as a part of the newly formed USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education
USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education
The USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, formerly Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, is a nonprofit organization established by Steven Spielberg in 1994, one year after completing the Academy Award-winning film Schindler's List...
.
In addition to the Shoah Foundation, the USC Libraries digital collection highlights include the California Historical Society, Korean American Archives and the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California. The digital archive holds 193,252 records and 223,487 content files of varying formats.
USC's 22 libraries and other archives currently hold nearly 4 million printed volumes, 6 million items in microform
Microform
Microforms are any forms, either films or paper, containing microreproductions of documents for transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about one twenty-fifth of the original document size...
, and 3 million photographs and subscribe to more than 30,000 current serial titles, nearly 44000 feet (13,411.2 m) of manuscripts and archives, and subscribe to over 120 electronic databases and more than 14,000 journals in print and electronic formats. Annually, reference transactions number close to 50,000 and approximately 1,100 instructional presentations are made to 16,000 participants. The University of Southern California Library system is among the top 35 largest university library systems in the United States.
Rankings
In the U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of best "National Universities", USC made the prestigious top 25, ranked at 23rd in 2011. USC is ranked 46th among world universities and 35th among universities in the Americas by the Academic Ranking of World UniversitiesAcademic Ranking of World Universities
The Academic Ranking of World Universities , commonly known as the Shanghai ranking, is a publication that was founded and compiled by the Shanghai Jiaotong University to rank universities globally. The rankings have been conducted since 2003 and updated annually...
, 48th worldwide in 2011 by Human Resources & Labor Review, and 13th (tied with seven other universities) among national universities by The Center for Measuring University Performance.
USNWR ranks USC's School of Law
University of Southern California Law School
The University of Southern California Law School , located in Los Angeles, California, is a law school within the University of Southern California...
18th, the Marshall School of Business
Marshall School of Business
The USC Marshall School of Business is a private research and academic institution at the University of Southern California. It is the largest of USC's 17 professional schools. The current Dean is James G. Ellis. In 1997 the school was renamed following a US$35 million donation from alumnus Gordon S...
is ranked 9th in undergraduate education with the USC Leventhal School of Accounting 4th, the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies 3rd and 20th for its MBA program, the USC School of Cinematic Arts
USC School of Cinematic Arts
The USC School of Cinematic Arts, until 2006 named the School of Cinema-Television , is a film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest and largest such school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of...
is tied with NYU for 1st, Keck School of Medicine of USC
Keck School of Medicine of USC
The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California is a major center of medical research, education and patient care. Founded in 1885, the Keck School of Medicine is the oldest medical school in Southern California.Located on the university’s Health Sciences campus three miles ...
34th in research and unranked in primary care, the Viterbi School of Engineering
Viterbi School of Engineering
The Viterbi School of Engineering is located at the University of Southern California in the United States. It was renamed following a $52 million donation by Andrew Viterbi...
11th, and the Rossier School of Education 14th, and the Roski School of Fine arts Graduate program 37th, the School of Policy, Planning, and Development 7th, the USC School of Social Work 8th.
USC was named "College of the Year 2000" by the editors of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
and The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review operates in 41 states and 22 countries across the globe. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college...
for the university's extensive community-service programs.
The Princeton Review ranked USC video game design program as 1st out of 150 schools in North America. The university's video game design programs are interdisciplinary, involving the Interactive Media Division of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the GamePipe program in the Department of Computer Science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.
The Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Shanghai Jiao Tong University or SJTU), sometimes referred to as Shanghai Jiaotong University , is a top public research university located in Shanghai, China. Shanghai Jiao Tong University is known as one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China...
ranked USC's combined departments of engineering and computer sciences as 11th in the world, physical sciences 52nd, social sciences 35th, life sciences 51st, clinical medicine and pharmacy 47th. USC is also among top 10 dream colleges in the United States. Princeton Review's "College Hopes & Worries" 2010 survey reports USC as the 9th dream college for both students and parents separately.
Student body
| Undergraduate | Graduate & Professional | U.S. Census | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caucasian White American White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa... |
47.0% | 31.9% | 73.9% |
| Black African American African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States... |
5.8% | 4.2% | 12.1% |
| Asian Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,... |
21.0% | 20.2% | 4.3% |
| Hispanic | 13.6% | 8.1% | 14.5% |
| Native American Native Americans in the United States Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as... |
0.8% | 0.4% | 0.9% |
| International International student According to Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development , international students are those who travel to a country different from their own for the purpose of tertiary study. Despite that, the definition of international students varies in each country in accordance to their own national... |
9.1% | 24.7% | (N/A) |
USC has a total enrollment of 36,896 students, of which 17,380 are at the undergraduate and 19,516 at the graduate and professional levels. The male-female ratio at USC is nearly 1:1. 31.2% of incoming students are drawn from the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, 20.9% from other areas in California, 39.5% from the rest of the United States, and 8.4% from abroad. USC's student body encompasses 7,115 international students, more than any other university in the United States and the university maintains offices in several countries. There are approximately 200,000 living Trojan Alumni.
Admissions
35,794 students applied for admission to the undergraduate class of 2014, with 8,715 being admitted (24%) and 2,972 enrolling (34% yield). Among admitted students, the interquartile rangeInterquartile range
In descriptive statistics, the interquartile range , also called the midspread or middle fifty, is a measure of statistical dispersion, being equal to the difference between the upper and lower quartiles...
for SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...
composite scores was 2020-2230 and the average unweighted GPA was 3.8, while among enrolled freshmen, the SAT range was 1950-2170 and the average GPA was 3.7. 20 percent of admitted and attending students are SCions, or students with familial ties to USC, while 12 percent are the first generation in their family to attend any form of college. There were also 245 National Merit Scholar
National Merit Scholarship Program
The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and college scholarships administered by National Merit Scholarship Corporation , a privately funded, not-for-profit organization. The program began in 1955...
winners and 7 National Achievement Scholars in the admitted class. USC ranks among the top five schools in the nation in terms of its enrollment of National Merit Scholars.
Faculty and research
350 postdoctoral fellows are supported along with over 800 medical residents. Among the USC faculty, 12 have been elected to the National Academy of Science, 35 to the National Academy of Engineering
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
, 13 to the Institute of Medicine
Institute of Medicine
The Institute of Medicine is a not-for-profit, non-governmental American organization founded in 1970, under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences...
, 21 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
, 75 to the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
, 6 to the American Philosophical Society
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
, and 9 to the National Academy of Public Administration
National Academy of Public Administration (United States)
The National Academy of Public Administration was founded by James E. Webb, then-administrator of NASA, and other leading public administration practitioners in 1967 and chartered under Title 36 of the United States Code in 1984 under Public Law 98-257. The Academy is a nonprofit, nonpartisan...
. 29 USC faculty are listed as among the "Highly Cited" in the Institute for Scientific Information
Institute for Scientific Information
The Institute for Scientific Information was founded by Eugene Garfield in 1960. It was acquired by Thomson Scientific & Healthcare in 1992, became known as Thomson ISI and now is part of the Healthcare & Science business of the multi-billion dollar Thomson Reuters Corporation.ISI offered...
database. George Olah won the 1994 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
and directs the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute
Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute
Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute is on the campus of the University of Southern California. Nobel Laureate George A. Olah serves as Director and G.K. Surya Prakash serves as Scientific Co-Director and holds the George A. and Judith A...
. Leonard Adleman
Leonard Adleman
Leonard Max Adleman is an American theoretical computer scientist and professor of computer science and molecular biology at the University of Southern California. He is known for being a co-inventor of the RSA cryptosystem in 1977, and of DNA computing...
won the Turing Award
Turing Award
The Turing Award, in full The ACM A.M. Turing Award, is an annual award given by the Association for Computing Machinery to "an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community. The contributions should be of lasting and major technical importance to the...
in 2003.
In fiscal year 2007 USC expended $415.2 million on research, and major funding came from federal agencies: the Department of Health and Human Services granted $182.4 million, Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
$45.7 million, and National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
$41.8 million. Total foundation and association sponsorship totaled $43.1 million, corporate research $30.6 million, and local government funding totaled $28.1 million.
The university has two National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
–funded Engineering Research Centers: the Integrated Media Systems Center
Integrated Media Systems Center
The Integrated Media Systems Center is on the campus of the University of Southern California, USA. It was founded using a grant from the US National Science Foundation in 1996 for the study of Integrated Media Systems ....
and the Center for Biomimetic Microelectronic Systems
Center for Biomimetic Microelectronic Systems
Center for Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems is on the campus of the University of Southern California.The Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems vision is realized first by identifying the unmet medical needs in the 3 testbeds of blindness, paralysis, and central nervous system impairments...
.
The Department of Homeland Security
United States Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...
selected USC as its first Homeland Security Center of Excellence. Since 1991, USC has been the headquarters of the NSF
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
and USGS
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
funded Southern California Earthquake Center
Southern California Earthquake Center
The Southern California Earthquake Center , headquartered at the University of Southern California, was founded in 1991 with a mission to:* gather new information about earthquakes in Southern California;...
(SCEC). The University of Southern California is a founding and charter member of CENIC, the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California, the nonprofit organization, which provides extremely high-performance Internet-based networking to California's K-20 research and education community. USC researcher Jonathan Postel was an editor of communications-protocol for the fledgling internet, also known as ARPANET
ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...
.
Notable USC faculty include or have included the following: Leonard Adleman
Leonard Adleman
Leonard Max Adleman is an American theoretical computer scientist and professor of computer science and molecular biology at the University of Southern California. He is known for being a co-inventor of the RSA cryptosystem in 1977, and of DNA computing...
, Richard Bellman
Richard Bellman
Richard Ernest Bellman was an American applied mathematician, celebrated for his invention of dynamic programming in 1953, and important contributions in other fields of mathematics.-Biography:...
, Aimee Bender
Aimee Bender
Aimee Bender is an American novelist and short story writer, known for her surreal plots and characters.-Biography:Bender received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at San Diego, and a Master of Fine Arts from the distinguished creative writing MFA program at University of...
, Barry Boehm
Barry Boehm
Barry W. Boehm is an American software engineer, TRW Emeritus Professor of Software Engineering at the Computer Science Department of the University of Southern California, and known for his many contributions to software engineering.- Biography :...
, Warren Bennis
Warren Bennis
Warren Gamaliel Bennis is an American scholar, organizational consultant and author, widely regarded as a pioneer of the contemporary field of Leadership studies....
, Todd Boyd
Todd Boyd
Dr. Todd Boyd, American academic, is the Katherine and Frank Price Endowed Chair for the Study of Race and Popular Culture and Professor of Critical Studies in the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Boyd is an author, media commentator, producer and consultant...
, T.C. Boyle, Drew Casper
Drew Casper
Joseph Andrew "Drew" Casper is a Professor of Critical Studies in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California and considered to be an authority on American film from World War II to the present. While a Ph.D. student at USC, Dr. Casper's mentor, Irwin Blacker, died...
, Manuel Castells
Manuel Castells
Manuel Castells is a sociologist especially associated with information society and communication research....
, Erwin Chemerinsky
Erwin Chemerinsky
Erwin Chemerinsky is an American lawyer and law professor. He is a prominent scholar in United States constitutional law and federal civil procedure...
, Thomas Crow
Thomas E. Crow
Thomas E. Crow is an American art historian and art critic who is best known for his influential writing on the role of art in modern society and culture....
, António Damásio
Antonio Damasio
Antonio Damasio is David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Southern California, where he heads USC's Brain and Creativity Institute and Adjunct Professor at the Salk Institute. Prior to taking up his posts at USC, in 2005, Damasio was M.W...
, Francis De Erdely
Francis de Erdely
Francis de Erdely was renowned in Europe and the United States for his powerful figure paintings and drawings as well as for his teaching abilities.-Biography :...
, Percival Everett
Percival Everett
Percival Everett is an American writer and Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.-Life:Everett lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife, novelist Danzy Senna and their two sons....
, Murray Gell-Mann
Murray Gell-Mann
Murray Gell-Mann is an American physicist and linguist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles...
, Seymour Ginsburg
Seymour Ginsburg
Seymour Ginsburg was a pioneer of automata theory, formal language theory, anddatabase theory, in particular; and computer science, in general...
, G. Thomas Goodnight
G. Thomas Goodnight
G. Thomas Goodnight is an American argumentation and rhetorical scholar.He is a professor and director of doctoral studies in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California...
, Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall
Dame Jane Morris Goodall, DBE , is a British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace. Considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best known for her 45-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National...
, Solomon Golomb, Susan Estrich
Susan Estrich
Susan Estrich is an American lawyer, professor, author, political operative, feminist advocate, and political commentator for Fox News.-Early life:...
, Janet Fitch
Janet Fitch
Janet Fitch is most famously known as the author of the Oprah's Book Club novel White Oleander, which became a film in 2002. She is a graduate of Reed College, located in Portland, Oregon....
, Tomlinson Holman
Tomlinson Holman
Tomlinson M. Holman is an American film theorist, audio engineer, and inventor of film technologies, notably the Lucasfilm THX sound system. He developed the world's first 10.2 sound system. Earlier, Holman developed what was known as the Holman Preamplifier, for the Apt Corporation. He holds a...
, Henry Jenkins
Henry Jenkins
Henry Jenkins III is an American media scholar and currently a Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts, a joint professorship at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and the USC School of Cinematic Arts...
, Thomas H. Jordan
Thomas H. Jordan
Thomas H Jordan is a geophysicist and current director of the Southern California Earthquake Center at The University of Southern California. He was formerly the head of the Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a member of the...
, Pierre Koenig
Pierre Koenig
Pierre Koenig was an American architect.Born in San Francisco, he received his B.Arch. in 1952 from the University of Southern California. Koenig apprenticed under Raphael Soriano, among others, and began private practice in 1952. Koenig practiced mainly on the west coast and was most notable for...
, Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
, Daniel L. McFadden, George Olah, Paul Orfalea
Paul Orfalea
Paul Orfalea , nicknamed "Kinko" because of his curly red hair, founded the copy-chain Kinko's. His father descends from Urfa.Orfalea was born in Los Angeles, California to parents of Lebanese descent...
, George V. Chilingar
George V. Chilingar
George V. Chilingarian is an American-Armenian Professor of Civil and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Southern California...
, Simon Ramo
Simon Ramo
Simon "Si" Ramo is an American physicist, engineer, and business leader. He led development of microwave and missile technology and is sometimes known as the father of the intercontinental ballistic missile...
, Irving Reed
Irving S. Reed
Irving Stoy Reed is a mathematician and engineer. He is best known for co-inventing a class of algebraic error-correcting and error-detecting codes known as Reed-Solomon codes in collaboration with Gustave Solomon...
, Michael Waterman
Michael Waterman
Professor Michael S. Waterman is a scientist at the University of Southern California , where he holds an Endowed Associates Chair in Biological Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science. He previously held positions at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Idaho State University...
, Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
, Arieh Warshel
Arieh Warshel
Arieh Warshel is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Southern California. He is known for his work on computational biochemistry and biophysics, and, in particular, for having pioneered computer simulations of the function of biological systems, and for...
, Lloyd Welch
Lloyd R. Welch
Lloyd Richard Welch is a noted American information theorist, and co-inventor of the Baum–Welch algorithm.Welch received his B.S. in mathematics from the University of Illinois, 1951, and Ph.D. in mathematics from the California Institute of Technology, 1958, under advisor Frederic Bohnenblust...
, and Diane Winston
Diane Winston (professor)
Diane Winston is a professor of Media and Religion at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, and an author. USC lists her current research interests as media coverage of Islam, religion and new media, and the place of religion in American...
.
Alumni
There are currently 200,000 living Trojan alumni, with nearly 75% of all alumni living in CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Among the notable alumni of the University of Southern California have come prominent musicians, businessmen, engineers, architects, athletes, actors, politicians, and those that have gained both national and international fame. To keep alumni connected, the Trojan network consists of over 100 alumni groups on five continents. A common saying among those associated with the school is that one is a "Trojan for Life".
Athletics
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
Division I (FBS) Pacific-12 Conference and has won 114 total team national championships (non-NCAA and NCAA): 91 for men and 23 for women. Of this total, 78 and 14 are NCAA National Championships for men and women, respectively. The NCAA does not include college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
championships in its calculation. Though there are multiple organizations that name national championships, USC claims 11 football championships. The men's 361 Individual Championships are the second-best in the nation and 53 ahead of third place Texas. USC's cross-town rival is UCLA, with whom there is fierce athletic and scholastic competition. USC's rivalry with Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
—though generally limited to football—predates the UCLA rivalry
UCLA-USC rivalry
The UCLA–USC rivalry is the American college rivalry between the UCLA Bruins sports teams of the University of California, Los Angeles and the USC Trojans sports teams of the University of Southern California ....
by three years. The Notre Dame rivalry stems mainly from the annual football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
game played between these two universities and is considered one of the greatest rivalries in college athletics.
USC has won 92 NCAA team championships, 3rd behind cross-town rival UCLA (106) and Stanford (101). The Trojans have also won at least one national team title in 26 consecutive years (1959–60 to 1984–85). USC won the National College All-Sports Championship, an annual ranking by USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
of the country's top athletic programs, 6 times since its inception in 1971. Four Trojans have won the James E. Sullivan Award
James E. Sullivan Award
The James E. Sullivan Award, presented by the American Amateur Athletic Union , is awarded annually in April to "the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States". Often referred to as the Oscar of sports awards, it was first presented in 1930. The award is named for the AAU's founder and past...
as the top amateur athlete in America: diver Sammy Lee
Sammy Lee (diver)
Dr. Samuel Lee is the first Asian American to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States and the first man to win back-to-back gold medals in Olympic platform diving...
(1953), shot putter Parry O'Brien
Parry O'Brien
William Parry O'Brien, Jr. was an American shot put champion. Born in Santa Monica, California, he competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics where he won two gold medals and one silver medal . In his last Olympic competition he placed fourth. For this, he is inducted in the U.S...
(1959), swimmer John Naber
John Naber
John Phillips Naber is a former American swimmer who specialized in the backstroke and five-time Olympic medallist .-Career:...
(1977) and swimmer Janet Evans
Janet Evans
Janet Beth Evans is a American competitive swimmer who specializes in distance freestyle. She recently announced her comeback to the sport with intentions to swim in the 2012 Olympic Trials.-Biography:...
(1989).
From the 1904 Summer Olympics through the 2004 games, 375 Trojan athletes have competed in the Games, taking home 112 gold medals, 64 silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
and 58 bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
. If it were an independent country, USC would be ranked 12th in the world in terms of medals. Since 1912, USC is the only university in the world to have a gold medal-winning athlete in every summer Olympiad.
Men's sports
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, 19 in tennis
NCAA Men's Tennis Championship
The NCAA Men's Tennis Championships are held to crown a team, individual, and doubles champion in American college tennis. The first intercollegiate championship was held in 1883, 23 years before the founding of the NCAA, with Harvard's Joseph Clark taking the singles title...
, 12 in baseball
College World Series
The College World Series or CWS is an annual baseball tournament held in Omaha, Nebraska that is the culmination of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which determines the NCAA Division I college baseball champion. The eight teams are split into two, four-team, double-elimination brackets,...
, 9 in swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
and diving
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
, 6 in volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, 6 in water polo
NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship
The NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship has existed since the 1969 season.No school from outside the state of California has ever surpassed third place...
, 2 in indoor track and field, and 1 in gymnastics
NCAA Men's Gymnastics championship
This is a list of National Collegiate Athletic Association Men's Gymnastics champions, by division and year. All schools currently compete in one division, because only 17 schools sponsor men's gymnastics teams...
. USC's men's basketball has appeared in the NCAA tournament
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
15 times, and made 2 NCAA Final Four
Final four
Final Four isa sports term that is commonly applied to the last four teams remaining in a playoff tournament, most notably NCAA Division I college basketball tournaments. The term usually refers to the four teams who compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final round...
appearances.
The USC football program has consistently ranked among the best in the Division I FBS in recent years. During the term of Pete Carroll
Pete Carroll
Peter Clay Carroll is the head coach and executive Vice-President of the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League. He is a former head coach of the New York Jets, New England Patriots and the University of Southern California Trojans football team.-Early life:Carroll attended Redwood High...
as head coach, the Trojans improved their rankings and competed in a variety of bowls
Bowl game
In North America, a bowl game is commonly considered to refer to one of a number of post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating...
and championships. The Trojans football has won 11 national championships. 7 players have won the Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
, although the school claims six, after alleged violations involving Reggie Bush. As of 2011, 472 Trojans have been taken in the NFL Draft
NFL Draft
The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the National Football League teams select eligible college football players and it is their most common source of player recruitment. The basic design of the draft is each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order...
, more than any other university. Their 2004 BCS National title was stripped 6/6/2011, but they retained the Associated Press title.
Women's sports
Women's teams have earned 23 national championships. The Women of Troy have brought home 51 individual NCAA crowns. Two Women of Troy athletes have won the Honda-Broderick CupHonda-Broderick Cup
The Honda-Broderick Cup is a sports award for college-level female athletes. The awards are voted on by a national panel of more than 1000 collegiate athletic directors. It was first presented by the late Thomas Broderick, owner of a sports apparel company, in 1977, with the first award going to...
as the top collegiate woman athlete of the year: Cheryl Miller (1983–84) and Angela Williams
Angela Williams
Angela Williams is an American athlete. Williams attended the University of Southern California, graduating in 2002....
(2001–02). And Trojan women have won 8 Honda Awards
Honda Sports Award
The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States of America, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Award are automatically in the running for the Honda-Broderick Cup award, as...
, as the top female athlete in their sport.
The Women of Troy have won 7 championships in tennis
NCAA Women's Tennis Championship
The NCAA Women's Tennis Championship is the National Collegiate Athletic Association's tennis tournament to determine the Team Championships, Singles Championships, and Doubles Championships in Women's Tennis. It was started in 1982.-2009 Division tournament:...
, 6 in volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, 3 in water polo, 2 in golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, 2 in basketball
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season...
, 1 in swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
and diving
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
, 1 in track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, and 1 in soccer.
Traditions and student activities
As one of the oldest universities in California, the University of Southern California has a long and storied history resulting in a number of modern traditions, some of which are outlined here:
- USC's official fight songFight songA fight song is primarily an American and Canadian sports term, referring to a song associated with a team. In both professional and amateur sports, fight songs are a popular way for fans to cheer for their team...
is "Fight OnFight On"Fight On" is the fight song of the University of Southern California. It was composed in 1922 by USC dental student Milo Sweet, with lyrics by Sweet and Glen Grant, for a student spirit competition...
," which was composed in 1922 by USC dental student Milo Sweet (with lyrics by Sweet and Glen Grant). - Primal SCream: Every night before a final in the fall and spring semester, the USC Band performs outside of Leavey Library at 10:00 to give students a 20-minute break filled with music, dancing, cheering, and even swimming in the reflection pool. On the night before the last day of finals, everyone from students to band members jumps in the reflection pool and celebrate the end of the semester.
- Spectators walking from campus to the ColiseumLos Angeles Memorial ColiseumThe Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a large outdoor sports stadium in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park, that is home to the Pacific-12 Conference's University of Southern California Trojans football team...
back-kick the base of one of the flag poles at the edge of campus on Exposition Boulevard to ensure good luck for the football team at their next game. - TroyCamp is USC's primary charity that serves children from the community in numerous ways. Songfest is an annual event on campus that showcases student talent and benefits the charity. Most fraternities and sororities "team up" to perform in the show.
Rivalries
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
. The annual game is played for the Jeweled Shillelagh
Jeweled Shillelagh
The Jeweled Shillelagh is passed between the annual winner of the college football game between the University of Southern California Trojans and the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The shillelagh, an Irish war club, is made of oak or blackthorn saplings from Ireland...
. The rivalry has featured more national championship teams, Heisman trophy winners, All-Americans, and future NFL hall-of-famers than any other collegiate match-up. The two schools have kept the annual game on their schedules since 1926 (except 1942–44 because of World War II travel restrictions) and the game is often referred to as the greatest intersectional rivalry in college football.
USC's cross-town rival is UCLA, with whom there is fierce athletic and scholastic competition. Both are within L.A. city limits, approximately 10 miles (16.1 km) apart. Until 1982 the two schools also shared the same football stadium, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The victor of the annual football game takes home the Victory Bell
Victory Bell (USC-UCLA)
The Victory Bell is an annual trophy given to either the University of Southern California or the University of California, Los Angeles. The winner of the annual USC-UCLA rivalry football contest keeps the bell for the next year, and paints it the school's color: "True Blue" for UCLA, or cardinal...
. The Trojans and Bruins also compete in a year-long all-sports competition for the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy. Pranks between UCLA and USC were commonplace several decades ago. Both universities have cracked down on pranks since a 1989 incident when USC students released hundreds of crickets
Cricket (insect)
Crickets, family Gryllidae , are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers, and more closely related to katydids or bush crickets . They have somewhat flattened bodies and long antennae. There are about 900 species of crickets...
into the main UCLA library
Powell Library
Powell Library is the main college undergraduate library on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles . It was constructed from 1926 to 1929 and was one of the original four buildings that comprised the UCLA campus in the early period of the university's life...
during finals week. Days before a clash between rivals UCLA and USC in 2009, the Bruins mascot was vandalized. It was splashed in cardinal and gold paint, USC's official colors sparking memories of pranks played in the years earlier. The week preceding the annual football matchup with UCLA is known as "Troy Week" and features a number of traditions including CONQUEST! "The Ultimate Trojan Experience", Save Tommy Night, the CONQUEST! Bonfire, and all-night vigils by the Trojan Knights
Trojan Knights
The Trojan Knights are an American service and spirit organization associated specifically with the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California...
to protect the campus from UCLA Bruins
UCLA Bruins
The UCLA Bruins are the sports teams for University of California, Los Angeles . The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pacific-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation . For football, they are in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I...
.
In addition, USC has rivalries with other Pac-12 schools, namely Stanford as both are the only two private universities in the conference and are situated at opposing regions of California, as well as being the two oldest private research universities in California, 1880 and 1885 respectively.
Mascots
Andalusian horse
The Andalusian, also known as the Pure Spanish Horse or PRE , is a horse breed developed in the Iberian Peninsula. Its ancestors have been present on the Iberian Peninsula for thousands of years. The Andalusian has been recognized as an individual breed since the 15th century, and its conformation...
, is currently the university's official mascot. It first appeared at a football game in 1961, and was known at Traveler I. The current horse is known as Traveler VII.
Tommy Trojan, officially known as the Trojan Shrine, is a bronze statue in the model of a Trojan
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
warrior at the center of campus. It is commonly mistaken as the school's official mascot. The statue was modeled after Trojan football players, and the statue is engraved with the ideal characteristics of a Trojan. It is a popular meeting point for students and a landmark for visitors.
In the 1940s, George Tirebiter
George Tirebiter
George Tirebiter was the unofficial mascot of the University of Southern California in the 1940s. When a stray dog was discovered by a group of USC students at Curry's Ice Cream parlor, one student remarked that the dog looked like a Navy V-12 student named George Kuhns...
, a car-chasing dog, was the most popular unofficial mascot. After it bit the mascot of the UCLA Bruins, it gained fame among students. The dog was known to chase down cars on Trousdale Parkway, which runs through campus. After the original dog died, a few others succeeded it. A statue was built in 2006 to honor the unofficial mascot.
Marching band
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
, known as The Spirit of Troy
Spirit of Troy
The Spirit of Troy, also known as the University of Southern California Trojan Marching Band , self-described as "The Greatest Marching Band in the History of the Universe," represents USC at various collegiate sports, broadcast, popular music recording, and national public appearance functions.The...
, has been featured in at least 10 major movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s, performed in the 1932
1932 Summer Olympics
The 1932 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the X Olympiad, was a major world wide multi-athletic event which was celebrated in 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. No other cities made a bid to host these Olympics. Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many nations...
and 1984 Summer Olympics
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...
in Los Angeles. They have also performed on television shows and with other musicians.
The band performed on the title track of the 1979
1979 in music
See also:Record labels established in 1979* 1979 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1979.-January–February:*January 1...
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
album Tusk
Tusk (album)
Tusk is the 12th album by the British/American rock band Fleetwood Mac. Released in 1979, it is considered experimental, primarily due to Lindsey Buckingham's sparser songwriting arrangements and the influence of punk rock and New Wave on his production techniques...
, which went on to be a multi-platinum record. In 1990, the band performed live on America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos is an American reality television program on ABC in which viewers are able to send in humorous homemade videotapes. The most common videos usually feature slapstick physical comedy arising from incidents, accidents and mishaps...
. Additionally, the band later played on another multi-platinum Fleetwood Mac album, The Dance
The Dance (album)
The Dance is a live performance by Fleetwood Mac, released on Cassette, CD and VHS in 1997, and later on DVD. It hailed the return of the band's most successful line-up of Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie and Stevie Nicks, who had not released an album together since...
(1997). The Spirit of Troy is the only collegiate band to have two platinum records. In recent years, the band has appeared at the 2009 Grammy Awards, accompanying Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
; on the 2009 Academy Awards
81st Academy Awards
The 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2008 and took place February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST...
with Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
and Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters...
; and during the finale of American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
2008, backing Renaldo Lapuz
Renaldo Lapuz
Renaldo Lapuz is a Filipino-American who auditioned on the seventh season of the television series American Idol, singing the self-written song "We're Brothers Forever."-Biography:...
in instrumentation of his original song "We're Brothers Forever." In 2009, the band played on the show Dancing With the Stars
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...
.
The USC band was only one of two American groups invited to march in the Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...
parade in 2003 and 2004. The Trojan Marching Band performed at the 2005 World Expo in Nagoya, Japan
Nagoya, Aichi
is the third-largest incorporated city and the fourth most populous urban area in Japan.Located on the Pacific coast in the Chūbu region on central Honshu, it is the capital of Aichi Prefecture and is one of Japan's major ports along with those of Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Yokohama, Chiba, and Moji...
. In May 2006, the Trojan Marching Band traveled to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, performing once in Florence, and twice in Rome (including in front of the Coliseum). The band has also, for many years, performed the 1812 Overture
1812 Overture
The Year 1812, Festival Overture in E flat major, Op. 49, popularly known as the 1812 Overture or the Overture of 1812 is an overture written by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1880 to commemorate Russia's defense of Moscow against Napoleon's advancing Grande Armée at the Battle of...
with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (or occasionally with other orchestras) each year at the Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
"Tchaikovsky Spectacular".
Spirit groups
Student media
The Daily TrojanDaily Trojan
The Daily Trojan, or "DT," is the student newspaper of the University of Southern California. The newspaper is a forum for student expression and is written, edited, and managed by university students. The paper is intended to inform USC students, faculty, and staff on the latest news and provide...
has been the student newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
of USC since 1912 and is a primary source of news and information for the campus. It secured the first interview of President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
after his resignation. The publication does not receive financial aid from the university and instead runs entirely on advertisement revenue. Published from Monday to Friday during the fall and spring semesters, the newspaper turns into the Summer Trojan during the summer term and publishes once a week. It is the paper of record on campus.
Trojan Vision
Trojan Vision
Trojan Vision is a student television station at the University of Southern California through the School of Cinematic Arts. Established in 1997 by the Annenberg School for Communication, Trojan Vision is a member of the Open Student Television Network , which televises student programming...
(often abbreviated as TV8) is the Student television station
Student television station
A student television station is a television station run by university, high or middle school students that primarily airs school/university news and in many cases, student-produced soap operas, entertainment shows, and other programming....
at USC. TV8 was established in 1997 by the Annenberg School for Communication, but is now a part of the School of Cinematic Arts. Trojan Vision broadcasts 24/7 from the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts to the University Park Campus on Channel 8.1 and online through their website. Programming is also made available to the greater Los Angeles community on local channel LA36. In addition to a selection of regularly airing shows of many genres, Trojan Vision also broadcasts the shows Platforum, a round-table debate show; Annenberg TV News
Annenberg TV News
Annenberg TV News, or ATVN, is a student-produced 30-minute nightly news program serving the University of Southern California student body and Downtown Los Angeles. It airs live at 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday during the school year on Trojan Vision 8 on campus and online on Trojan Vision's...
, a news program
News program
A news program, news programme, news show, or newscast is a regularly scheduled radio or television program that reports current events. News is typically reported in a series of individual stories that are presented by one or more anchors...
; and CU@USC, an interview program, live every weeknight from 5:30pm to 7:00pm.
El Rodeo is USC's student-run yearbook
Yearbook
A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...
. One of the oldest student traditions at the university, the first edition was released in 1889 and was originally called The Sybil. The name was changed to El Rodeo in 1899 to reflect the cowboy-themed events students threw to advertise the yearbook as a "roundup" of the year's events. It was long packaged with the Student Activity Card, which gave students access to all home sports games. Since the card was dissolved in 2007, the yearbook has been sold as a stand-alone item.
Greek life
The Greek CommunityFraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
, making up approximately a fifth of the student body, has had a long and influential history on the campus. Centered on a portion of West 28th Street known as "The Row", located between Figueroa Street
Figueroa Street
Figueroa Street is a street in Los Angeles County, California named for General José Figueroa , governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835, who oversaw the secularization of the missions of California...
and Hoover Street just north of campus, USC's Greek system began soon after the school's founding when Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Alpha Theta , also known as Theta, is an international fraternity for women founded on January 27, 1870 at DePauw University, formerly Indiana Asbury...
founded a chapter in 1887.
With 23 fraternities and 11 sororities in the Interfraternity Conference (IFC) and Panhellenic Conference
National Panhellenic Conference
The National Panhellenic Conference , founded in 1902, is an umbrella organization for 26 national women's sororities.Each member group is autonomous as a social, Greek-letter society of college women and alumnae...
(PHC), respectively, the USC Greek community has over 2,650 members and is one of the largest on the West Coast. It regularly participates in Homecoming and Songfest, and the community's philanthropic efforts and success in philanthropic leadership annually raise over $150,000.
Outside of the Panhellenic and Interfraternity conferences, the Greek community at USC is very diverse, boasting the Multicultural, Asian, Inter-Fraternity (composed of professional fraternities), and the National Pan-Hellenic
National Pan-Hellenic Council
The National Pan-Hellenic Council is a collaborative organization of nine historically African American, international Greek lettered fraternities and sororities. The nine NPHC organizations are sometimes collectively referred to as the "Divine Nine"...
(historically black) Councils. Organizations governed by these councils include chapters of some of the oldest Latino and Black Greek organizations in the country and the oldest Asian fraternity in Southern California; while also including established professional business, engineering, and pre-law fraternities and other multiculturally based groups.
Popular media
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
, close ties between the School of Cinematic Arts and entertainment industry, and the architecture on campus, the university has been used in numerous movies, TV shows, commercials, and music videos. USC serves as a popular spot for filmmakers, standing in for numerous other universities.
Movies filmed at USC include Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump is a 1994 American epic comedy-drama romance film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise...
, Legally Blonde
Legally Blonde
Legally Blonde is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic, written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, and produced by Marc E. Platt...
, Road Trip, The Girl Next Door, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle is a 2004 American stoner film and the first installment in the Harold & Kumar series...
, Love & Basketball, Blue Chips
Blue Chips
Blue Chips is a 1994 drama film about basketball, directed by William Friedkin, written by Ron Shelton and starring Nick Nolte as a college coach and real-life basketball stars Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway as talented finds....
, Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a...
, Live Free or Die Hard
Live Free or Die Hard
Live Free or Die Hard , is a 2007 American action film, and the fourth installment in the Die Hard series. The film was directed by Len Wiseman and stars Bruce Willis as John McClane. The name was adapted from the state motto of New Hampshire, "Live Free or Die"...
, House Party 2
House Party 2
House Party 2, the sequel to the 1990 film House Party, was released in 1991 by New Line Cinema. The sequel returns most of the cast of the first movie along with new cast members such as Queen Latifah and Iman. The second installment includes more guest appearances from other famous entertainers...
, The Number 23
The Number 23
The Number 23 is a 2007 American psychological thriller film written by Fernley Phillips and directed by Joel Schumacher. The film starred Jim Carrey, Virginia Madsen, Danny Huston, and Logan Lerman. It was subsequently released on DVD on July 24, 2007 , and premiered on HBO on Saturday April 19,...
, The Social Network
The Social Network
The Social Network is a 2010 American drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. Adapted from Ben Mezrich's 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires, the film portrays the founding of social networking website Facebook and the resulting lawsuits...
and The Graduate
The Graduate
The Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder...
. TV shows that have used the USC campus include Cold Case, Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...
, 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
, The O.C.
The O.C.
The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...
, Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
, Moesha
Moesha
Moesha is an American sitcom series that aired on the UPN network from January 23, 1996 to May 14, 2001. The series stars R&B singer Brandy Norwood as Moesha Mitchell, a high school student living with her family in the Leimert Park neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles.-Overview:The show...
, Saved by the Bell: The College Years
Saved by the Bell: The College Years
Saved by the Bell: The College Years is a sequel to the Saved by the Bell series which ran from September 14, 1993 to February 8, 1994, lasting one season...
, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from September 10, 1990 to May 20, 1996. The show stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart teenager from West Philadelphia who is sent to move in with his aunt and uncle in their...
, House
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
, Undeclared
Undeclared
Undeclared is an American sitcom that aired on Fox during the 2001–02 season.- Premise :The half-hour comedy was Judd Apatow's follow-up to his earlier television series Freaks and Geeks, which also lasted for one season...
, The West Wing, House, M.D., Alias
Alias (TV series)
Alias is an American action television series created by J. J. Abrams which was broadcast on ABC for five seasons, from September 30, 2001 to May 22, 2006...
, The Office, Monk
Monk (TV series)
Monk is an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. It originally ran from 2002 to 2009 and is primarily a mystery series, although it has dark and comic touches.The series debuted on July...
, The United States of Tara
The United States of Tara
United States of Tara is an American television comedy-drama created by Diablo Cody, which began airing on Showtime in 2009. The series follows the life of Tara , a suburban housewife and mother coping with dissociative identity disorder....
, Gilmore Girls
Gilmore Girls
Gilmore Girls is an American family comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. On October 5, 2000, the series debuted on The WB and was cancelled in its seventh season, ending on May 15, 2007 on The CW...
, and The Roommate
The Roommate
The Roommate is a 2011 thriller film directed by Christian E. Christiansen and starring Minka Kelly, Leighton Meester, Cam Gigandet, Danneel Harris, Matt Lanter, and Aly Michalka. It was theatrically released on February 4, 2011. The film is a unofficial remake of the 1992 film Single White...
. The USC campus also appears on the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles
Midnight Club: Los Angeles
Midnight Club: Los Angeles is the fourth video game in the Midnight Club series of racing video games, not including Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix. It was officially announced for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on January 11, 2008 by Rockstar Games. The game was developed by Rockstar San Diego...
on its "South Central Map Expansion".
Recently the campus has served as a backdrop for popular television games shows Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
and Wheel of Fortune. Other television shows that have been filmed on campus include the 2004 Democratic Primary
Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2004
The 2004 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2004 U.S. presidential election...
Debate, Hardball with Chris Matthews
Hardball with Chris Matthews
Hardball with Chris Matthews is a talk show on MSNBC, broadcast weekdays at 5 and 7 PM hosted by Chris Matthews. It originally aired on now-defunct America's Talking and later CNBC. The current title was derived from a book Matthews wrote in 1988, Hardball: How Politics Is Played Told by One Who...
, The Scholar
The Scholar
The Scholar is a reality television show broadcast by ABC.Filmed at the University of Southern California, The Scholar is the first reality television show to offer college scholarships as prizes...
, The Best Damn Sports Show Period
The Best Damn Sports Show Period
The Best Damn Sports Show Period is an American sports television show on Fox Sports Net and Comcast SportsNet. The show regularly featured irreverent and opinionated interviews with top athletes, coaches, celebrities, and entertainers. It also aired Top 50 countdown shows and other sports...
, CSI:New York, and College GameDay.
Footnotes
b. These other names include SC, Southern California, and Southern Cal. Despite its prevalent use in sports-related articles, the official position of USC discourages use of "Southern Cal" (to reinforce the nonexistence of a foundational association in any context to CalUniversity of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
), as clearly stated in all media guide
Media guide
A media guide is a sports-related press kit, distributed as a book or binder, and published by American sporting teams before the start of the sporting season. It features information relating to the team players, history, statistical records and other similar items...
s: "Note to the media: In editorial references to athletic teams of the University of Southern California, the following are preferred: USC, Southern California, So. California, Troy and Trojans for men's or women's teams, and Women of Troy for women's teams. PLEASE do not use Southern Cal (it's like calling San Francisco 'Frisco' or North Carolina 'North Car.'). The usage of 'Southern Cal' on licensed apparel and merchandise is limited in scope and necessary to protect federal trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
rights."
c. Specifically Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
; Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, China; Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
; Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
; Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
; and Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. USC International Offices
d. The NCAA does not conduct a championship for Football Bowl Subdivision football. Instead, teams are awarded championships by various private organizations, currently the recognized championships are awarded by the Bowl Championship Series
Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of...
and titles by the Associated Press
AP Poll
The Associated Press College Poll refers to weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling sportswriters across the nation...
.
e. The precise colors can be found on the USC Graphic Identity Program website: the correct Pantone
Pantone
Pantone Inc. is a corporation headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, USA. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System , a proprietary color space...
color for USC Cardinal is PMS 201C and USC Gold is PMS 123C.