USC Student Affairs Highlights 2010-2011

2010-11

USC Student Affairs

2010-2011 highlights

Vice President for Student Affairs Michael L. Jackson, President C. L. Max Nikias and first lady Niki C. Nikias welcomed students and parents to campus on Move-in Day.

2010-2011:

Message from the Vice President

A Ren a i ssa nce fo r S t u den t A ffa i r s

In my office in the Student Union, I have a print of artist John Nava’s “Trojan Family

During the 2010-2011 academic year, the Division of Student Affairs not only increased its square footage but also upped its cultural quotient with the opening of the new Ronald Tutor Campus Center.

Under the new leadership of USC

President C. L. Max Nikias and the continuing guidance of Vice President for Student Affairs Michael L. Jackson, Student Affairs adorned the Campus Center with more than 100 paintings, drawings, photographs, murals, tapestries, sculptures and pieces of Trojan memorabilia.

Culture was also in the air: KXSC

broadcast from a new professional quality studio, the Campus Center offered more performance venues, and students explored the world beyond campus with free monthly trips to Los Angeles destinations. At the same time, the USC Kortschak Center for Learning and Creativity supported some of the brightest minds on campus, nurturing visionaries of the future.

In Student Affairs, our mission of help-

ing students reach their educational, personal and professional aspirations takes

Tapestry,” the signature commission of the Ronald Tutor Campus Center. For me, this astonishing work of art represents the broad diversity of USC students — where they’re from, what they’re studying and what their dreams are. As with all of our students here at USC, I can feel them brimming with hope and possibility.

Seeing this tapestry reminds me of why I chose to work in higher education — for

the opportunity to support college access and contribute to student learning. Like all great art, it encourages me to be creative, to think about the world beyond myself and to look beyond any boundaries.

I believe that our students and visitors are equally inspired by the more than 100

pieces of art and Trojan memorabilia in the Campus Center. Through the Art and Trojan Traditions program, the new facility displays paintings, drawings, photographs, murals, tapestries, sculptures and memorabilia from its own permanent collection as well as more than 50 pieces on loan from the USC Fisher Museum of Art. It hosts exhibitions, commissions new works and supports neighborhood outreach, making art an essential element of everyday life.

In USC Student Affairs, we’re proud to serve the next generation of artists and cre-

ative thinkers. A future Frank Gehry or Neil Armstrong might find inspiration in the reflective steel tangle of artist Richard Zawitz’s 675-pound “INFINITY 8.30” sculpture.

A young Trojan musing over the fairies, elves and medieval friars in Maynard Dixon’s “Jinks Room” murals might dream up the next “Star Wars.” Other students might experience that spark from a John Wayne movie poster, a 2,000-year-old Aphrodite sculpture or Judy Baca’s mural “La Memoria de Nuestra Tierra: California.”

You’ll see an overview of our successes in advancing students’ learning and develop-

ment in this third annual Student Affairs Highlights report. We hope it will serve as an exhibition of the creative work we’ve done during the past academic year, and will welcome friends, colleagues and Trojan Family members to join us in exploring fresh canvases.

Please send your feedback, ideas and recommendations to vpsa@usc.edu.

And, remember, in all your creative endeavors … Fight On!

many forms. This annual report is not a comprehensive list of the multitude of

Sincerely,

Student Affairs departments and programs.

Instead, it focuses on our strategic plan’s five initiatives, highlighting a few of the newest programs that advance each.

Michael L. Jackson Vice President for Student Affairs

T h e S tud e nt A ffairs M ission

The Student Affairs Mission The central mission of the University of Southern California (USC) is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit.

Student Affairs is devoted to creating an integrated learning experience that helps students reach their educational, personal and professional aspirations.

We help create a campus community where students are prepared to contribute to a changing world.

To d o t h i s w e :

• Provide leadership for university-wide Student Affairs programs • Support students in their development: intellectual, moral, ethical, social, cultural, emotional and physical • Challenge students to create a diverse community of mutual respect through cultural exploration and social interaction • Promote the common good while listening to the individual voice, encouraging independent thought and interdependent actions • Motivate students to contribute as leaders, team members, professionals and world citizens through experiential learning opportunities • Utilize Los Angeles and Southern California as an educational environment where learning has no boundaries • Create local and global connections: academic, professional and personal • Design the future of student support services S t u d e n t A f fa i r s S t rat eg i c P l a n

The Student Affairs Strategic Plan sets forth five initiatives/principles that will guide our work for the next several years. They are: • Fostering an intellectually centered student culture • Preserving and advancing the unique USC student experience • Inventing the future of student services • Promoting local and global citizenship • Creating a culture of evidence

For more information, please visit

www.usc.edu/student-affairs/about/strategic_plan.

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F ost e ring an int e ll e ctually c e nt e r e d stud e nt cultur e

Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowships: Building a Diverse Academy

By Diane Anderson

Exploring topics ranging from the social impact of Black stand-up comedy to genocide resistance in Rwanda, seven USC students earned the opportunity to conduct graduatelevel research through the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) Program.

A national program, MMUF strives to increase the minority presence on college and university faculties by encouraging underrepresented undergraduate students to pursue Ph.D.s in fields that lack diversity. USC’s MMUF program is a partnership between the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the Office of the Provost and the Division of Student Affairs.

“The goal is to not only help these students with their research, but also to provide assistance with workshops and conferences while they are undergraduates and in graduate school,” said Martha Enciso, assistant director of Academic Recognition Programs and head of the USC MMUF program. “It’s like a preparation program to become faculty.”

As they decode hours of digital tapes, search library archives and conduct hundreds of phone interviews, the selected students have already delved into the research process thanks to an MMUF summer stipend. Fellows also receive fall and spring stipends in addition to formal faculty mentorship.

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“I had been planning to do research, and Mellon Mays made it possible and provided resources that are just amazing,” said senior Jayme Tsutsuse, who will be traveling to Rwanda to conduct interviews about genocide resistance with support from her faculty mentors and the Shoah Foundation. “For me, research is not so much about undoing misconceptions, but finding a way to understand things that are so outside of what I have experienced in my life.”

Taking a political science course about terrorism and genocide sparked Tsutsuse’s interest in the subject. “I wanted to learn about people’s stories — people who fought back against what the majority was partaking in,” she said.

Stephen Finlay, associate professor of philosophy and a mentor to Tsutsuse, called her project “a perfect fit for the fellowship program.”

He added, “I’m very impressed by how it combines abstract theory and empirical research with matters of direct, concrete importance.”

Senior Rikiesha Pierce’s research took an entirely different turn as she combed through a recorded archive of stand-up comedy and related interviews compiled by her mentor Lanita Jacobs, associate professor of anthropology. Pierce also plans to take part in a weeklong performance retreat led by Liesel

For more information, visit www.usc.edu/student-affairs/MMUF.

Reinhart, head of the production company Speak Theater Arts.

“Her enthusiasm for this subject is as contagious as it is generative for my own research on notions of racial authenticity in Black stand-up comedy,” said Jacobs. “I can’t wait to see what she discovers — both about the craft of stand-up and her extraordinary self.”

Pierce, who excelled academically at Mt. Sac Community College and lived out of her car for a time before transferring to USC, plans to pursue a Ph.D. in performing arts studies and hopes to use “comedy as a tool for social change.”

“What I hope to find is some kind of prescription comedians are giving to their audiences in terms of social critique and commentary, and what they perceive as the means of combating the ills of society,” said Pierce, who is majoring in sociology.

Senior Evelyn Larios has already assisted her mentor, Veronica Terriquez, assistant professor of sociology, on several research projects including a community development project with the Second Baptist Church in south Los Angeles, a look at union- and nonunion parent involvement in L.A. County schools and a study of access to post-secondary education.

A course in research methods inspired her to do an independent project on the planning and implementation of the Los Angeles May Day marches, which sparked her interest in social movements.

“I am very research-oriented,” said Larios, who heard about the Mellon Mays program through her involvement as a transfer student in the SCholars Program. “[Former SCholars director] KC Mmeje provided great mentorship. He saw that I was interested in research and encouraged me to apply.”

Although she is still debating about which topic — social movements or labor unions — to pursue for her Mellon Mays project, Larios, a double major in sociology and policy, planning, and development and a McNair Scholar, spent the summer collecting data and finalizing her project.

“Evelyn has an outstanding sociological imagination,” said Terriquez. “She understands research and knows how to ask questions and use data to answer those questions.”

Other members of the cohort include: Charnan Williams, who is researching the history of Leimert Park; Evelyn Sanchez, who is looking at immigration from an LGBT perspective; Jennifer Escobar, who is exploring border issues and religious groups; and Nelly Chavez, who is examining folklore and religion in southern Mexico.

“We look for students who seem to have an edge to their research and be true scholars in the making — students who will actually make a difference in their professions,” said George Sanchez, professor, vice dean for college diversity and strategic initiatives at the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and mentor to Williams and Sanchez.

Once students complete their research and are accepted into graduate programs, whether at USC or other MMUF universities, they continue to be supported and funded by the program.

“Once selected,” said Enciso, “students are in it for life.”

APASS Director Sumi Pendakur: 251 Pages of Empowerment

By Alexis Young

At four years old, Sumun “Sumi” Pendakur played dress up in her father’s academic regalia with dreams of someday wearing her own doctoral robe. Those dreams came true when Pendakur received a Doctor of Education from the USC Rossier School of Education along with a merit award for her dissertation.

At Rossier’s doctoral commencement ceremony, Pendakur — who has worked for nearly seven years as the director of USC’s Asian Pacific American Student Services (APASS) — was presented with the dissertation of the year award for “The Search for Transformative Agents: The Counterinstitutional Positioning of Faculty and Staff at an Elite University.”

This was the capstone to an educational journey that included earning a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in women’s studies and history, and a master’s degree in higher education administration from the University of Michigan.

“I got an email saying there were many qualified nominees and amazing nominations, but I won,” she said. “I thought it was spam, so I made my husband read it three times. I was on top of the world. As a woman of color, I never wanted there to be any barrier holding me back. Education is one thing no one can ever take away from us.”

Rossier professors anonymously nominate students for the award, and a committee selects the winner.

Reynaldo Baca, professor and dissertation chair at Rossier, expected Pendakur’s 251page dissertation to win.

“I would have been very disappointed if she hadn’t gotten the award,” he said. “It’s a dissertation that comes up once or twice in a

lifetime for a professor. Not often do we find something that can advance the field. I thought she did that and will do more. Her dissertation can lay the foundation for a book.”

Pendakur’s qualitative study focuses on empowerment social capital theory, examining both institutional and empowerment agents in elite universities. After students at an anonymous elite university identified faculty and staff they felt were empowerment agents, Pendakur selected six subjects to interview. She offered several findings, including information about the benefits of empowerment agents for low-income, first generation or students of color.

“For me, the study ended up being deeply personal,” said Pendakur, who also won a 2011 Remarkable Women Award for her ongoing commitment to students. “There were personal ‘aha’ moments about the kind of change agent I want to be and the kind of transformation I care about in institutions.

Hearing from people who are on the ground doing this incredible work and navigating some pretty tough pathways — I found that extremely rewarding, renewing and reinvigorating.”

For more information, visit www.usc.edu/apass.

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F ost e ring an int e ll e ctually c e nt e r e d stud e nt cultur e

spotlight

Daniel J. (DJ) Strouse, USC’s First Churchill Scholar

By Cristy Lytal

For Daniel J. (DJ) Strouse, USC’s first Churchill scholar, one of his fondest childhood memories involves a math problem.

“In first grade, we were doing one-digit multiplication tables, and I solved them all very quickly because I really liked math,” he said. “My teacher gave me 11 times 11. I thought about it and quickly noticed a pattern. I ran to my teacher and said, ‘121! 121!’ I was so excited, because she hadn’t told us how to do two-digit numbers.”

That was Strouse’s first step toward winning a scholarship to the University of Cambridge, where he will conduct computational neuroscience research. Each year, the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States covers tuition, fees, living, travel and certain research expenses for up to 14 U.S. scholars in the sciences, engineering and mathematics. Scholars exhibit outstanding academic talent and personal qualities, and at least eight of them have won the Nobel Prize.

I’m very excited about being at one of the oldest universities in the world for a year — this is not lost on me,” said Strouse, a USC Presidential Scholar and member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Upsilon Pi

Epsilon and Tau Beta Pi honor societies. “I keep telling my friends that I hope it’s something like Hogwarts, and we wear school robes to dinner and wander around the halls at night by candlelight and such.

But I think it’s a pretty modern place.”

A native of Newark, Del., who enrolled at USC as a history major, Strouse didn’t originally envision himself as a Cambridge-bound scientist.

Fittingly, the light bulb first went off for Strouse in Professor Paolo Zanardi’s introductory physics class on electricity and magnetism.

Strouse changed his major to mathematics and physics and did quantum information research with Zanardi at the Institute for Scientific Interchange in Italy and at the Institute for Quantum Computing in Canada.

“If students make it their priority, they can start research from day one, as soon as they come into the university,” said Strouse.

At USC, Strouse pursued neuroscience research with professors Michael Arbib and Ted Berger, and worked with Professor Bartlett Mel in the Laboratory for Neural Computation through funding from a USC Provost’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship. He also found a mentor in Professor Stephan Haas, vice dean for research at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

“Whenever I get really excited about some topic, and I’m learning about it outside of class, and there’s no one else to ask, I always run to Professor Zanardi and Professor Haas,” said Strouse. “They’re always willing to answer questions for me.”

As an undergraduate, Strouse also conducted a social entrepreneurship project in India as a USC Stevens Global Impact fellow, interned in Shanghai, China through the USC Career Center’s Global Fellows Internship Program and participated in the Amgen Scholars Program at Stanford University. He co-founded an opensource Web platform called CoLab for scientists to share their findings and started a 300-member student hiking club.

“DJ is energetic, naturally curious and, as his experiences demonstrate, he has tremendous intellectual capacity,” said Noosha Malek, director for Academic Recognition Programs. “We are incredibly proud of his achievement.”

After his year in Cambridge, Strouse will pursue a Ph.D. with support from a Department of Energy Computational Sciences Graduate Fellowship and plans to become a professor of physics, math or neuroscience.

“There are several things I enjoy, but two of them are research and teaching, and that describes what a professor does,” he said. “I can’t imagine anything more fun than continuing research and then getting the chance to teach students who are just getting interested in this like I was a couple of years ago. I had some wonderful mentors at USC, and I would like to be able to do for other students what those mentors did for me.”

For more information, visit www.usc.edu/student-affairs/LSS/arp.

AT GL A NCE

Hudhail Al-Amir: 47 Years as “Doctor Proctor”

By Cristy Lytal

Hudhail Al-Amir, who recently retired as director of the Testing Bureau, started working at USC on July 1, 1962, and he owes it all to number 2 pencils.

“When I was a student, I went to the Testing Bureau to visit a friend who was working there, and he asked me to sharpen some pencils while I was visiting with him,” Al-Amir recalled. “The following week, I received a call from the Testing Bureau saying I had to fill out a payroll form so they could pay me for sharpening pencils. They said it’s a state law: if you work, you have to get paid.

And so I filled out the forms, and then I started working there as a student worker.”

Born in Baghdad, Al-Amir chose to attend USC as an undergraduate due to the influence of the American Jesuits who ran the high school he attended in Iraq. Although his brothers and cousins earned their degrees abroad at European universities, he was the first member of his family to study in the United States.

He joined a fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi, which helped him adapt quickly to life at USC. “I don’t think anyone before me who was in a fraternity was a foreign student,” he said. “At the time, all foreign students would gather at the cafeteria. They would have their own tables, and they never really picked up on the American way of life. So joining the

fraternity was fantastic. I really enjoyed it, and it helped me assimilate so much quicker.”

The Pacific Ocean also agreed with AlAmir, who became an avid scuba diver. He caught lobsters with his bare hands and gave them to his friends, and also took up deepsea fishing, a hobby he continues to enjoy.

“I have a picture of me on the front cover of the Daily Trojan by the track field, and I am holding two huge lobsters on my shoulders,” he said. “The caption below reads something about Hudhail Al-Amir with his pets.”

Following graduation, Al-Amir landed a position as a testing supervisor and, after a series of promotions, became director of the Testing Bureau in the mid-1980s.

Students dubbed Al-Amir USC’s “Doctor Proctor.” His duties included giving placement tests for incoming freshmen, scoring and statistically analyzing classroom exams with scannable answer sheets, drawing up the final exam schedule, administering national tests like the SAT and ensuring security through methods ranging from alternate testing forms to a walk-in exam storage vault.

Testing even launched Al-Amir’s career in Hollywood: filmmaker and USC alumnus John Singleton approached him to play “S.A.T. Man” in 1991’s “Boyz n the Hood.”

Al-Amir recalled the casting process: “Singleton said, ‘I took some placement test from you. You probably don’t remember me.’

I said, ‘The truth is I see about 20,000 people every testing year. I really don’t remember you. But did you use a number 2 pencil?’ He said, ‘Yes, yes.’ ” In addition to Singleton and legions of other test-takers, Al-Amir’s Trojan family includes his wife, two daughters, who are both USC alumnae, and granddaughter.

In his free time, he enjoys his 50-yard-line seats at Trojan football games, traveling and watching CBS’s “The Mentalist.”

But one place you won’t see Al-Amir these days is at the pencil sharpener.

“I don’t need to sharpen any more,” he said. “We have enough.”

For more information, visit sait.usc.edu/testing_bureau.

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• The Hollywood awards season extended to Trojan Vision — the university’s television station — which received five Ava Awards from an international competition that recognizes exceptional audiovisual work. Though Trojan Vision has won several gold awards in the past, 2011 is the first year the station received platinum awards — one for directing and the other for being one of the top “tribute” entries.

• The Office of Student Life and Involvement encouraged students to “Study On!” during finals by opening several rooms in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center for non-stop, 24-hour-a-day student use. USC Hospitality also kept the food court and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf open.

• KXSC, USC’s student radio station, started the year fresh with a new call sign and professional quality studio in the basement of the Ronald Tutor Campus Center. A digital audio rig connected to Tommy’s Place, the adjacent campus performance venue, allows the station to broadcast live performances by local and student artists.

P r e s e rving and advancing t h e uni q u e U S C stud e nt e xp e ri e nc e

Campus Center Art Opening: Life Integrating Art

By Cristy Lytal

At USC, art isn’t something that remains tucked away in museum basements or locked in storage. At the September 30, 2010 Art Grand Opening of the newly constructed Ronald Tutor Campus Center, Trojans met artists and viewed the more than 100 pieces of art and Trojan memorabilia on display in the university’s central gathering place.

At the reception, guests enjoyed refreshments and guided art tours as well as remarks from Michael L. Jackson, vice president for Student Affairs; Selma Holo, director of the USC Fisher Museum of Art; and Patrick Bailey, senior associate dean of students and executive director of student life and involvement.

Holo praised the Ronald Tutor Campus Center Art and Trojan Traditions program, which enables the new facility to display paintings, drawings, photographs, murals, tapestries, sculptures and memorabilia from its own permanent collection as well as more than 50 pieces on loan from the USC Fisher Museum of Art. She also highlighted other aspects of the program — such as community outreach, upcoming exhibitions and commissions — concluding that USC had created “a unique model in higher education for relationships between the university or college museum and its campus center.”

Holo then joined Bailey in mediating a special behind-the-scenes conversation with artists Richard Zawitz, John Nava and Lucy Arai.

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The signature commission of the Campus Center collection is Nava’s “Trojan Family Tapestry,” a 22-square-foot work of art that permanently hangs in the building’s main entrance. Nava used USC students, faculty and staff as models, and drew from the USC library archives for the background design.

Among the people depicted are retired USC President Steven B. Sample and 2008 Olympic gold medalist and former USC swimmer Rebecca Soni.

“When I was little, I’d go to museums, and I loved the paintings, the Rembrandts and things,” Nava told the audience. “When I was young, I went to the New York World’s Fair where they had brought the Michelangelo Pieta to Flushing Meadows. I was always into the great classical Western tradition of art. That’s what spoke to me then, and it still speaks to me. For me, it’s the great heart and soul of art, and I think we’re very sensitive to the human image.”

Zawitz, a Zen artist, fielded questions about his sculpture entitled “INFINITY 8.30.”

Permanently installed on the lower level of the Campus Center, the reflective tangle of stainless steel weighs approximately 675 pounds and sits on a 2,000-pound marble base.

“It’s wonderful for my art to be in a nontraditional museum and especially around university students,” he said. “I want the young folks to be able to participate, to be inspired, to be instilled with the energy that comes with art.”

Arai, whose mixed media work “2001.02: Waterfall” hangs on the third floor of the Campus Center, explained how a traditional Japanese stitching technique evolved into her unique medium of expression.

“This is quite a wonderful opportunity to address tradition at USC, a place where tradition really is something very bold, spirited and present in our daily lives,” she said.

Guests also celebrated the rededication of “La Memoria de Nuestra Tierra: California,” a mural by Judy Baca that was originally completed for the USC campus in 1996.

“Murals sing gospel from our streets and preach to us about who we can be, what we fear and what we can inspire,” said Baca, before Aztec dancers and a mariachi band took the stage.

The Campus Center also showcases works of art by USC students, alumni, faculty and community members, as well as pieces by international artists from as far away as China and Ghana. Additional art installations and memorabilia displays are already planned for the Campus Center and the adjacent Student Union.

“We’re soaring, we’re striving, we’re working incredibly hard to be the best that we can possibly be,” said Jackson. “From my perspective, art is a way of unleashing all of our potential and inspiring us to think in ways we never thought before.”

For more information, visit www.usc.edu/student-affairs/construction/campus_center.

spotlight

Carmel and Dan Gardner, Co-presidents of the Parents Council

By Cristy Lytal

At a recent USC Parents Council meeting, Dan Gardner mentioned to fellow parents that his son Daniel is applying to medical school.

“I was talking to a husband and wife who are both medical doctors,” Dan recalled. “And the husband said, ‘I’d be happy to meet with your son, and maybe he could sit in on some surgeries.’ Only at USC, where there is this Trojan Family spirit, do you encounter stuff like that on a regular basis.”

This spirit inspired Dan and Carmel Gardner to become copresidents of the Parents Council. Carmel previously served as council secretary. As the governing body of the USC Parents Association, the Parents Council represents the interests of all Trojan parents.

“I can honestly say: there’s nothing like the Trojan spirit,” said Carmel.

At one meeting, a parent mentioned the progressive Master of Science in marine and environmental biology degree program, which allows students to begin work on a master’s degree while completing requirements for the bachelor’s degree. When the Gardners told their son about the program, he applied and was accepted. He’s currently studying at the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies on Catalina Island.

“USC is education at its best, as far as I’m concerned,” said Carmel. “You have high academic standards as well as a sense of making education fun. And you’re developing a great network while you’re here. It’s unique to USC and one of the biggest reasons why I’ve chosen to spend so much time supporting the university.”

As co-presidents, the Gardners lead Parents Council meetings and volunteer at Trojan Parents Weekend, Homecoming, Orientation, and cultural and sporting events.

They hope the year’s events will also include a trip to the Wrigley Institute, a tour of the School of Cinematic Arts, and guest speakers from the athletics program, the Viterbi School of Engineering and the university administration.

The Gardners plan to work with the School of Cinematic Arts or the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism to create two short videos — one focusing on teaching and mentoring, the other on the history of USC — to show at these events.

“Dan and Carmel Gardner have a terrific vision of the next steps for the USC Parents Association,” said Beth Saul, assistant dean for Student Affairs and director of Fraternity and Sorority Leadership Development and Parent Programs. “They will lead the Parents Council with grace and enthusiasm and exemplify Trojan Family spirit everywhere they go as ambassadors of the 17,000 undergraduate Trojan families.”

In addition to volunteering for USC, Dan serves as assistant vice president and corporate counsel for Farmers Insurance, and Carmel works as an elementary school music teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District. They always make time, however, to be active parents.

“We’ve always been highly supportive of our two children, Daniel and Ali,” said Carmel. “We want to continue the family tradition of supporting them through getting involved. Every time we come to the Parents Council events, we always go home in a good mood. We love the people; we like the activities. Most of all, we discovered the Trojan Family and the Trojan spirit, which are just amazing.”

For more information, visit www.usc.edu/student-affairs/parents/parentassocCouncilDescription.html.

P r e s e rving and advancing t h e uni q u e U S C stud e nt e xp e ri e nc e

Campus Conversation Series: Presenting the President

By Kate Mather

It’s not unusual for a professor or administrator to answer students’ questions. It’s a little more special, however, when the university president does.

President C. L. Max Nikias spoke with students for an hour as part of the Campus Conversation series held in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center. Sponsored by the Office of Campus Activities, the new program hosts conversations between prominent USC figures and students about university issues. Other 2010-2011 academic year guests included USC Athletic Director Pat Haden; basketball coaches Kevin O’Neill and Michael Cooper; and Kristina Raspe, associate senior vice president for Real Estate and Asset Management, who discussed USC’s master plan.

After giving students about 20 minutes of advice — “not a speech,” Nikias insisted — he fielded questions for the remainder of the time, while weaving in and out of the audience.

Topics ranged from improving graduate student engagement, to placing additional intramural fields on campus, to increasing diversity among the student body and faculty.

Several questions focused on the relationship between the university and the community

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For more information, visit usc.edu/ca.

after Nikias said that USC administrators were in the final design stages of a master plan, which involves redeveloping University Village (UV).

Nikias assured students that their concerns were being taken into consideration in the plans for UV, including the construction of a new gym, an intramural field and housing designed specifically for graduate students.

One student, however, raised concerns that the new construction might alienate the community surrounding USC. Nikias was quick to dispel that notion.

“I don’t want to see the chains of Armani and Gucci — that’s not the right image that I want to project for the university or for our community. There will be retail stores that are affordable,” Nikias said. “We live in a community and we live for a community.”

Nikias recently reached out to USC’s neighbors by visiting 10 of the 15 schools in the USC Family of Schools to better understand the schools, their students and their communities.

“It’s been a wonderful experience for me to visit them on their grounds,” Nikias said.

“I have a lot of ideas of what we can do to make a difference, especially for the kids.”

Nikias talked about two initiatives involving USC’s relationship with the surrounding community. The first focuses on job training and creation, specifically among businesses on Vermont Avenue and Figueroa Street.

The second features free high-speed Internet access — the same access that students have on campus — paid for by the university to the 100 homes closest to campus.

“He opened up a lot of room for discussion about his goals,” said Yevgeniya Kopeleva, series organizer and Program Board graduate advisor. “This has been a really great initiative to open the floor to students and give them more voice. Often these decisions are made, and we aren’t kept in the loop.

Events like this have, and will continue to have, a chance to spark these discussions.”

Nikias stressed that student input is important to him. When Undergraduate Student Government President Chris Cheng asked him how he plans to maintain a close relationship with students, Nikias responded, “What I can assure you is that as long as I am president of USC, being in close contact with the students is always going to be a priority.”

AT A GL A NCE • To better reflect the diversity of the Trojan Family, the Board of Directors of the USC Mexican American Alumni Association voted to change its name to the USC Latino Alumni Association. The newly named organization continues a nearly 40-year legacy of providing scholarships, leadership development and mentoring opportunities for Latino students attending USC.

University Publications: A “CASE” for Excellence

By Cristy Lytal

Good things come in fours for University Publications, a USC Student Affairs department that recently won an array of awards — a gold, two silvers and a bronze — from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

An association for education professionals in alumni relations, communications, development, marketing and allied areas, CASE includes more than 3,400 schools and nonprofit organizations in 68 countries. USC competed against the institutions in CASE District VII, which includes Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah.

The 2010-2011 USC Catalogue cover earned the Gold in Excellence in Design – Illustrations. University Publications departed from more traditional photographybased designs in favor of a vibrant illustration by digital collage artist Stephanie Dalton.

Rendered in cardinal and gold, the image of a student reading conveys the breadth of academic choices available to USC students and underscores the university’s mission and identity.

A collaboration between University Publications and the School of Policy, Planning, and Development (SPPD), the SPPD 20092010 degree brochure brought home the Silver in Excellence in Design – Multiple Page Publications. Rick Simner’s design — along with Paul Kepple’s illustrations and Mark Berndt’s photography — is a visual roadmap of the wide range of majors and degree programs available to prospective students. The design was so successful that it was used as a template for two smaller recruitment publications as well as for the SPPD 2010-2011 degree brochure.

CASE also recognized the writing talents of the University Publications staff with the Silver in Periodical Staff Writing for Internal Audiences. The award-winning series of articles about USC Student Affairs demonstrated

that the most creative stories can grow from the most ordinary occurrences: an upcoming campus event (“Grand Opening for Tutor Campus Center Art,” “Inspired by Youth Empowerment Conference”), the announcement of a new grant (“Preschoolers Get a Jumpstart on Kindergarten”), an after-school program (“USC Students Engage Children Every Week”) or the invitation of a University Publications staff member to speak at a local grade school (“Weemes Students Dream Big at Career Day”). The articles — which ran in the USC Chronicle as well as on the main USC News Website, the myUSC online student portal and the official Student Affairs Website — reached a Trojan audience of tens of thousands.

The USC Student Affairs Ronald Tutor Campus Center folder won the Bronze in Individual In-House Publications. A collaboration between University Publications and USC Spectrum Design Studio, the folder with six inserts is a flexible publication that evolves with the fundraising campaign, informing potential donors of available giving opportunities and connecting them with their passions. Spectrum Director Dane Martens’ design evokes the architecture of the Campus Center in both the folder and inserts, which echo the triangular shape of a pitched roof.

University Publications Director Sue Vogl and Assistant Director Cristy Lytal received their accolades at the annual awards luncheon held in conjunction with the CASE District VII Conference in March in Los Angeles.

For more information, visit

www.usc.edu/student-affairs/programs/univpub.html.

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• Asian Pacific American Student Services (APASS) created Promoting Unity, Liberation and Education (PULE), a new initiative to foster a stronger sense of community for Pacific Islander students on campus.

PULE also dispels negative stereotypes and serves as a resource for Pacific Islander high school students who hope to come to USC. • Student Publications bridged the geographic divide between the University Park (UPC) and Health Sciences (HSC) campuses by integrating more health sciences coverage into the El Rodeo yearbook. In May 2011, yearbook photographer Lauren Studios set up on the HSC campus and captured 158 of the 162 fourth-year medical students, who previously had to travel to the UPC campus to have their pictures taken.

• Students explored Los Angeles with free monthly trips to destinations like Venice Beach, Universal City Walk and the Griffith Observatory through the Undergraduate Student Government and USC Transportation’s Greater L.A. program. These popular Friday evening trips accommodate up to 80 students each.

P r e s e rving and advancing t h e uni q u e U S C stud e nt e xp e ri e nc e

spotlight Ronnie C. Chan, Alumnus, Parent, Trustee and Business Leader

Friday Night Fix: Music and Comedy Keep Students on Campus

By Nathan Carter

USC alumnus, parent and trustee Ronnie C. Chan has a new honor to add to his long list of accolades and achievements. The legendary Hong Kong real estate developer — who guided the campaign for the Ronald Tutor Campus Center’s International Plaza — was recognized as one of 10 recipients of the 2010 Chinese Business Leaders Annual Award, organized by the 21st Century Business Herald, ifeng.com and the finance channel of China National Radio.

According to the 21st Century Business Herald, Chan received the honor because “he has built an ever-green commercial property kingdom with a focus on quality rather than quantity; and has traveled around the world to cohere the affection of the Chinese people in the world toward their home country.”

As chairman of Hang Lung Group Limited and its subsidiary Hang Lung Properties Limited, Chan made large-scale investments in Shanghai when the mainland property market was just taking off in the early 1990s. This investment has earned a rental return of 31 percent, and his company’s footprint currently extends from Hong Kong and Shanghai to Shenyang, Jinan, Tianjin, Wuxi and Dalian. In the next few years, Hang Lung will have completed seven mainland projects with a total gross floor area of 1,946,000 square meters.

To determine the award recipients, a panel of more than 100 judges spent three months winnowing down a pool of 108 accomplished candidates. The judges based their decisions on four criteria: vision, insight into the current global situation, industry foresight and Chinese values.

Chan developed many of these skills at the USC Marshall School of Business, where he earned his MBA in 1976. A member of the USC Board of Trustees since 1995, Chan established USC’s Hong Kong Alumni Association. A leader in the effort to raise $4.5 million for the new Ronald Tutor Campus Center’s International Plaza, Chan rallied USC alumni in Asia and personally donated $1 million to the construction of the stunning outdoor gathering place.

He and his wife Barbara have two children who are also Trojans: their son Adriel graduated in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in international relations, and their son Adley is currently earning his Doctor of Occupational Therapy.

In 2009, USC recognized Chan’s years of contributions to the university with the Asa V. Call Achievement Award, USC’s highest alumni honor.

“Ronnie has been a great friend and mentor to many of us at USC,” said Michael L. Jackson, vice president for Student Affairs. “He has helped expand USC’s contacts in Asia, helped secure funds from a foundation so dozens of students could do extended summer internships in companies and non-governmental agencies in Asian countries, and pushed for high standards of admission so we could recruit the very best students.

His enthusiasm is contagious and an inspiration to us all. I am glad to call him my friend.”

On Friday night, students chasing the hottest bands in L.A. can drive to the Hotel Café, the Echo or Spaceland — or they can head to Tommy’s Place for pool, drinks and a Friday Night Fix from groups such as L.A. indie favorite Kisses.

Friday Night Fix — the new bimonthly series of music and comedy acts hosted by USC Spectrum — has made the newly opened Ronald Tutor Campus Center a hub not only of student life but student nightlife.

It’s drawing students to Tommy’s Place, located in the Campus Center basement next to Traditions.

“Now that we have this great new performance space, we wanted to experiment with late night concerts and comedy on campus, to see how students would respond,” said Dane Martens, director of Spectrum.

Students are responding enthusiastically.

“When I was an undergrad here, we didn’t have a venue like this,” said Sean Hess, a graduate student in electrical engineering.

Renee Cohn, a fine arts major, appreciates having “another outlet to do something aside from the traditional USC extracurriculars.”

She added, “It’s an especially good thing for people at USC who would otherwise go off campus to see shows.”

Kisses, a duo that earned stage time at L.A. hotspots and acclaim from KCRW, is one of several acts who have headlined Friday Night Fix, including the band Foreign Born, DJs Daedelus and Shlohmo, and improv groups Tremendosaur and the Upright Citizens Brigade.

In choosing guests, Spectrum consults with the musical tastemakers at KXSC, USC’s student-run radio station.

“These concerts give students a place to hear underappreciated music,” said Katherine Lee, a civil engineering major and concerts director for KXSC. “It exposes them to different forms of artistry besides what’s commonly found on the radio.”

For more information, visit

For more information, visit

By Cristy Lytal

www.usc.edu/student-affairs/construction/campus_center.

sait.usc.edu/spectrum.

I nv e nting t h e futur e of stud e nt s e rvic e s

Tutor Campus Center: Wins L.A. City Council Kudos

By Alexis Young

Going green has earned the Ronald Tutor Campus Center a gold certification and recognition from the city of Los Angeles.

The U.S. Green Building Council awarded the Campus Center Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification for its environmentally conscious design and construction. On July 15, 2011, the Los Angeles City Council presented a city resolution honoring the achievement to USC and the design and construction team of the Campus Center.

“The commitment put forth by the team involved in the project has proven to result in the highest resource efficiency and lowest carbon footprint during both operation and construction,” the resolution states. “These efforts to promote sustainability within our community will allow for the students and community to continue to make Los Angeles a leader in education and innovation across the world.”

The LEED green-building certification system recognizes projects that implement strategies for better environmental and health performance with a focus on key areas such as water efficiency; the use of sustainably grown, harvested, produced and transported materials and resources; energy efficiency; and indoor environmental quality. The AC Martin architectural firm incorporated all of these elements into the Campus Center.

“As a firm, we proposed the LEED certification to the university because students across the board are interested in sustainability,” explained Tammy Jow, project designer at AC Martin. “Our original stated goal was silver, but we went a little overboard and raked in enough points for gold. We specified high efficiency plumbing fixtures throughout the building, which results in a 40 percent reduction in water usage, and we used radiant heating in the outdoor seating areas for energy efficiency. We also specified roofing materials that wouldn’t absorb a lot of heat.”

The Campus Center windows are made of high performance glass to save energy, and there is a wall made of glass recycled from crushed bottles. The design team used bricks that were manufactured within a 500-mile radius of the project to not waste transportation energy, and used wood that was harvested responsibly.

“It was really important to the students that the university look at green building and the type of carbon footprint we’re leaving,” said Patrick Bailey, associate dean and executive director of the Ronald Tutor Campus Center. “So I’m happy that we’ve been able to do that.”

Representing USC at the presentation were: Michael L. Jackson, vice president for Student Affairs; Stan Westfall, project manager for USC capital construction; Jason Cruz, associate director for the Ronald Tutor Campus Center; and Bailey.

For more information, visit www.usc.edu/student-affairs/construction/campus_center.

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I nv e nting t h e futur e of stud e nt s e rvic e s

USC Kortschak Center Opening: Celebrating Learning Differences

By Cristy Lytal

At the dedication and symposium for the USC Kortschak Center for Learning and Creativity, a standing-room-only audience of Trojans learned that dyslexics share their learning difference with good company, including author John Irving and entrepreneur Charles Schwab.

“Students [with learning differences] are among the most creative minds on a university campus,” said Walter Kortschak, who along with his wife Marcia and children Andrew and Sarah, made a more than $10 million gift to found the center. “They number perhaps 20 percent of the student body at almost every major university in this country.

We need these students to excel, problem solve and invent — and they can with the proper learning supports and assistive technologies and the confidence to believe that they can accomplish their dreams.”

The Kortschak Center helps these students achieve success through innovative services that include assistive technologies, learning strategy sessions and tutoring.

Under the direction of Eddie Roth, assistant dean and director of Disability Services and Programs and the Kortschak Center for Learning and Creativity, and the supervision of Pat Tobey, the associate dean of students responsible for academic support, the center also provides access to educational psychologists, occupational therapists, neuropsychologists and other learning specialists.

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“From the very beginning, the Kortschaks understood the potential of a center such as this, and they knew a generous commitment paired with a well-conceived plan would produce significant results,” said USC President C. L. Max Nikias. “In fact, early in our discussions, Walter asked, ‘I wonder if we are thinking big enough.’ ” Vice President for Student Affairs Michael L. Jackson shared these sentiments and called the Kortschak Center, which is the first of its kind, a “great, new adventure.”

After a symbolic ribbon cutting, Drs. Sally and Bennett Shaywitz, co-directors of the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, took the stage.

Sally Shaywitz explained that dyslexia, which affects one in five individuals and accounts for 80 to 90 percent of all learning differences, is “an unexpected difficulty in reading — unexpected in relation to the individual’s intelligence, motivation, education and professional status.” She outlined signs of dyslexia: confusing similar sounding words; problems with word retrieval; spelling and pronunciation difficulties; poor handwriting; and slow and choppy reading.

Her husband Bennett Shaywitz showed pictures of dyslexic brains, which have been observed using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).

For more information, visit kortschakcenter.usc.edu.

Sally Shaywitz emphasized the importance of accommodations such as allocating extra time on tests, which allow dyslexics to access their academic strengths without being hindered by their slow reading skills.

“Dyslexics are leaders, often disproportionately so, in science, medicine, the arts, cinema, business, entrepreneurship, poetry and writing,” she said. “So dyslexia — we shouldn’t think of it as a reading problem. It’s a way of thinking and a damn good one.”

As the founder of Kinko’s, USC alumnus Paul Orfalea serves as an example. He listed “his four very good qualities”: being a horrible reader, lacking mechanical ability, suffering from restlessness and an inability to sit still, and having great parents.

Ben Foss, director of access technology at the Intel Corporation, credited his mother with inspiring the invention of the Intel Reader, a device that assists dyslexics, visionimpaired people and others by photographing and reading text aloud.

“When I was a kid, I used to have my mom read out loud to me,” said Foss. “When I was in college, I would fax my term papers home to her in New Hampshire, and she would read them to me over the phone so that I could find mistakes. Over time, I grew an interest in developing other ways of reading that didn’t involve calling mom every time I had to read a menu or a textbook or something like that.”

After their presentations, the four speakers sat down for a panel discussion moderated

by Judy Muller, associate professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.

The conversation touched on everything from the Educational Testing Service to dyslexic CEOs, but the most impassioned discussion surrounded the use of the word “disability.”

“It’s the worst word,” said Orfalea. “I have a learning distinction.”

Foss presented a counter-argument based on his background as an attorney and policymaker: “The term ‘disability’ to me is important, because it stands for a legal principle: that we have a right to accommodation.”

Terminology aside, the new center ensures that this right will be afforded to all of the future John Irvings and Charles Schwabs currently at USC.

spotlight

Eddie Roth, Student Affairs Award Winner

By Alexis Young

Eddie Roth, assistant dean and director of Disability Services and Programs and the Kortschak Center for Learning and Creativity, didn’t receive the USC Division of Student Affairs 2011 Outstanding Dedication and Service Award for simply doing his job.

He earned the accolade for going beyond the call of duty.

“One of the things I’ve enjoyed is working outside the Kortschak Center and Disability Services and in the division,” said Roth, who has a Ph.D. in international/intercultural education and an M.A. in East Asian area studies from USC, and an M.Ed. in student services administration from Oregon State University.

Last year, Roth took a group of students to Belize to work at an orphanage as part of the USC Volunteer Center’s alternative winter break program. He has also taken students to Peru and Guatemala to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.

Every year, Roth puts his Ph.D. to further use as a co-teacher of “The United States: An American Culture Series,” a class for USC international students offered through the Office of International Services and Orientation Programs. The class, which was featured in the Los Angeles Times, covers the rules of American college sports, social expectations, gender roles, personal space and weddings. It also includes a walking tour of downtown Los Angeles.

In addition, Roth helps supervise the student sections during USC’s football and basketball seasons.

Roth’s job duties recently expanded. After seven years as director of Disability Services and Programs, Roth took leadership of the new Kortschak Center for Learning and Creativity, which opened in fall 2010.

He wears a variety of hats and says there is no such thing as a typical day at work.

“I’m overseeing the Kortschak Center, staff and projects; responding to inquiries; and reviewing documentation of students for disabilities,” Roth explained. “I do a lot of communicating through email and by phone with parents, students and faculty — putting out fires. It’s non-stop. There are a lot of balls in the air.”

In fall 2010, Roth paired 35 students who have learning differences with coaches who devise study plans, assist with time management and organizational skills, and provide structure and support throughout the semester. Roth hopes to double the number of students and bring more graduate student coaches on board.

“I love that we are able to assist students in understanding how they learn and in becoming successful,” Roth said. “It’s really fun to see that.”

For more information, visit

sait.usc.edu/academicsupport/centerprograms/dsp/ home_index.html.

AT A GL A NCE • The Ronald Tutor Campus Center Ambassadors — 12 parent, alumni and staff volunteers — are leading the way with free building tours.

The Campus Center has multiple items to point out, ranging from the original Tommy Trojan outfit to the Dart Aphrodite, a sculpture so rare that the only similar one is found at the Musée de Louvre in Paris.

Ambassadors also enjoy showing visitors how the center is serving students: giving them a place to meet friends or grab a bite to eat.

• Students, staff and alumni saw Student Affairs through a different lens when University Publications began producing videos highlighting programs such as the Career Center, Recreational Sports and the Volunteer Center. The videos, which are distributed through USC’s YouTube channel, have earned thousands of views and prominent placement in university news sources, including the USC News and Student Affairs Websites.

• The Center for Women and Men has launched a new support group for female survivors of gender-based harm, including assault, stalking or abuse. Women’s Circle is a drop-in discussion group that allows participants to share their experiences and support each other.

I nv e nting t h e futur e of stud e nt s e rvic e s

Student Health Center: Breaking New Ground

By Merrill Balassone

Under a shower of cardinal and gold confetti, Michele Dedeaux Engemann pumped her spirit fingers to the beat of the Trojan Marching Band at the April 4, 2011 groundbreaking for USC’s new student health center.

The five-story, 101,000-square-foot facility will be named the Roger and Michele Dedeaux Engemann Student Health Center to commemorate the $15 million gift from the longtime USC supporters.

The center, set to open in spring 2013 on the University Park campus, will be located along Jefferson Boulevard adjacent to Fluor

Tower. It’s not far from Dedeaux Field, where Michele’s father, Rod Dedeaux, coached the Trojan baseball team for 45 years.

“My family is truly a Trojan family,” said Michele, a USC trustee, alumna and proud Trojan parent.

Michele had one request of the thousands of students, faculty and staff who will have access to the center’s services, including unlimited primary and urgent care, comprehensive counseling and health promotion services.

“Leave here wise, healthy and happy,” she said.

USC president C. L. Max Nikias praised the Engemanns as “visionary philanthropists” whose gift will help “ensure the well-being of generations of Trojans to come.”

“Our students will have the support to succeed in every way,” Nikias said to a crowd of 300 people that included members of the USC Board of Trustees, university deans, administrators and students.

Lawrence Neinstein, M.D., professor of pediatrics and medicine, executive director of the University Park Health Center and senior associate dean of Student Affairs, will lead the center.

Neinstein called the new center a “dream come true” for the university’s health center staff, who wore T-shirts bearing the slogan “Be Well USC.” Sophomore Abbie Gregg came to the groundbreaking to show her support for the project.

“It’s going to be bigger and there’s going to be more support, which is great,” said Gregg, a coxswain on the crew team. “It’s definitely something worth putting our resources toward.”

For more information, www.usc.edu/

student-affairs/Health_Center.

LinkedIn Career Explorer: Helping Students Map Their Professional Futures

By Cristy Lytal

The Career Center can’t offer students crystal balls, but it can provide them with a new tool for gazing into their professional futures.

In fall 2010, Career Explorer — a new feature of LinkedIn developed with sponsorship from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) — selected USC for its exclusive West Coast launch.

“We do a lot of recruiting at USC for our L.A. office and the Southern California market,” said Amanda Todd, social media manager for PwC. “So we really wanted to develop this relationship.”

To celebrate the launch, more than 100 USC students attended a discussion between Lindsey Pollak, global spokesperson for LinkedIn, and Paula Loop, global talent leader

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For more information, visit

for PwC. “We will probably hire close to 6,000 new graduates in the U.S. this year,” said Loop.

USC students learned about the new tools and resources available to them through Career Explorer. Students can map out potential career paths through access to data about the most common positions in their chosen fields. They can also view job openings and network with other Trojans and LinkedIn users.

“There are 80 million people on LinkedIn around the world,” said Pollack. “Career Explorer is your door to finding people for you to connect with.”

Nan Lou, who is pursuing his master’s degree in electrical engineering, found

careers.usc.edu and linkedin.com/careerexplorer.

Career Explorer to be especially helpful for international students.

“I’m from China, and for international students, one disadvantage is that we have fewer connections,” he explained. “But this panel gave me a new LinkedIn feature, and fortunately we are the first users on the West Coast. So the students at USC have more chance and more time to use this tool and maybe end up with higher probabilities of finding good jobs.”

Mia Deterding, who coordinated the launch, said, “We encourage students to use LinkedIn; we encourage our alumni to use it as well. Now students have even more ways to identify career paths based on their interests.”

P romoting local and global citiz e ns h ip

Peace Camp/Peace Kids/Youth Leadership Academy in Peacemaking: Just Say No to Violence

By Cristy Lytal

On a Saturday afternoon at the United University Church on USC’s University Park campus, a child asked a group of freshmen how to stay focused despite gangs and drugs at his middle school.

With support from a $15,000 USC Neighborhood Outreach grant, a year-round program called Peace Camp/Peace Kids/ Youth Leadership Academy in Peacemaking can suggest some answers.

A collaboration between USC’s El Centro Chicano and Latino Floor and the United University Church’s Peace Center, the program teaches conflict resolution, meditation, yoga, mindful eating habits and violence prevention to children ages 5 to 18. Participants listen to guest speakers; learn about “peace heroes” such as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King Jr.; and participate in letter-writing campaigns and service projects.

At the end of each five-hour Saturday session, students from the Latino Floor — a residential community of 32 freshmen interested in Chicano and Latino culture — provide an

additional 90 minutes of free tutoring and 30 minutes of mentoring about everything from college preparedness to identity issues to the threat of violence.

“Some of it is fun and games and very entertaining,” said Billy Vela, director of El Centro Chicano. “And then some of it is very deep and makes our current Latino Floor students more aware of the privileges that they have coming to USC and also the reality and challenges some of our [Peace Kids] are facing [in] trying to come to USC down the line.”

Vela estimates that 95 percent of the residents of the Latino Floor have volunteered with the program, which meets every two to three weeks. Between 10 and 20 children usually stay for the tutoring and mentoring segment.

“I like the one-on-one tutor sessions,” said Sandra Zaragoza, a Latino Floor resident majoring in biochemistry. “My child said this program really helped her grades, and she enjoys school more now.”

Fellow Latino Floor resident and biochemistry major Jorge Rodriguez points out that the children aren’t the only ones to

For more information, visit www.uniteduniversitychurch.org/peace/index.html

benefit from the program. “I’ve always loved tutoring others, so it’s a blessing to learn from others and teach as well,” he said.

Peace Camp/Peace Kids/Youth Leadership Academy in Peacemaking is one of more than 411 programs that have received grants from USC Neighborhood Outreach since 1995.

This nonprofit grant-making organization enhances the quality of life in the neighborhoods surrounding the University Park and Health Sciences campuses through donations from USC faculty, staff and others. Many of these gifts come during the annual USC Good Neighbors Campaign, which asks university faculty and staff to contribute a portion of their paychecks to support programs that help strengthen local communities.

“I wish I had this type of program when I was growing up,” said Latino Floor resident Arnold Monroy. “This is a way of giving back to the communities that these kids come from.

This is my second time returning to Peace Kids and will definitely not be my last. I will help recruit, because these children are our future.”

and sait.usc.edu/elcentro.

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P romoting local and global citiz e ns h ip

spotlight

George Sanchez, Faculty Partner

By Cristy Lytal

When it came time to choose a faculty partner to launch a new summer abroad program for USC’s Norman Topping Student Aid Fund (NTSAF) in 2010, Professor George Sanchez was the clear choice.

“He is incredibly passionate and committed to first-generation, low-income students, and that’s exactly who our population is,” said Christina Yokoyama, director of NTSAF, a primarily student-administered scholarship program. “He’s very in touch with his roots and connected to students who are just like him.”

A first-generation college student and the son of Mexican immigrants, Sanchez grew up in Boyle Heights, south LA and Whittier.

When a high school teacher encouraged Sanchez to apply to Harvard University, he heeded the advice.

“I didn’t think it would ever happen but, as it turned out, not only did Harvard admit me, but Harvard is need-blind,” he said. “My parents were fairly poor. My dad was an auto mechanic, my mom a secretary. So actually, to go there meant that I got a check from Harvard each semester for $34. Couldn’t beat that!”

His academic career truly began his sophomore year when he visited a faculty member during office hours for the first time.

“I was taking a course in sociology and race relations,” he said. “I didn’t really know what to say, but the professor turned the tables on me. He had just finished being a court-appointed expert in the Los Angeles school desegregation case, so he had a lot of questions for me about Los Angeles. Two hours later, I realized that I have some things I know and can contribute.”

After becoming this professor’s research assistant, Sanchez decided that academia was the life for him. He headed to Stanford University to study the cultural adaptation of Mexican immigrants to Los Angeles and earned his Ph.D. in American history.

“Once I figured out that you could actually study those things that were personal, those things that were connected to your life experience, that made a huge difference for me,” he said. “When it came down to it, what I was doing was trying to figure out my parents. I wasn’t an immigrant myself, but my parents were, and I always felt like I didn’t quite understand everything they had gone through.”

After teaching at UCLA and the University of Michigan, Sanchez was lured to USC in 1997 by its commitment to Los Angeles and to diversity. He currently serves as a professor of American studies and ethnicity, and history, as well as vice dean for college diversity and strategic initiatives.

Sanchez’s recent work includes a book on civic engagement in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and a multiracial history of Boyle Heights.

As a vice dean, Sanchez is also responsible for enhancing the diversity of both the student body and the faculty.

“Diversity means racial/ethnic diversity; it means women in science; it means first-generation college students,” he said. “Anything that a department or unit wants to explore as diversity counts in this way, and we are open to all sorts of discussion.”

Sanchez’s commitment to diversity as well as his relationship with Yokoyama — who was his student as an undergraduate at USC — led to his involvement with NTSAF. He spent many hours developing a three-week immersion program in Los Angeles and Japan, and served as lead faculty advisor on the trip. He plans to continue his participation in future years.

“In the work with Norman Topping, it was very important to have a faculty member that connects with the students, that shares something in terms of background,” he said. “So I was very happy to be their guide in Japan. It wasn’t about being an expert in Japan. It was about being an expert in helping these particular students see a new part of the world in a different way.”

For more information, visit www.usc.edu/student-affairs/ntsaf.

AT A GL A NCE • The USC Parents Association earned the USC Alumni Association’s volunteer organization of the year award in recognition of their $300,000 fundraising effort for the Ronald Tutor Campus Center and their contributions to the Steven B. Sample Teaching and Mentoring Awards. The award celebrates alumni engagement and a culture of philanthropy.

“Head Spin” Tapestry: Art With a Twist

By Cristy Lytal

USC’s busy master’s and Ph.D. students might see something familiar in the new “Head Spin” tapestry hanging in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center Graduate Student Lounge.

Javier Carillo’s tapestry of a hip-hop dancer spinning on his head is an image “everybody can identify with,” according to artist John Nava, who served as a mentor for the project.

“Metaphorically, everybody feels like their whole lives are spent spinning on their heads trying to get things done, so it works on a double level. Probably those graduate students who are madly studying in that lounge can relate,” he said.

Carillo is aiming for a more literal connection with his audience. “Music and dance bring together the many diverse cultures of our city,” he explained.

He landed the commission through Art Division, a privately funded, professional visual arts training program that serves students ages 18 to 25 in Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park neighborhood.

For its first tapestry project, Art Division collaborated with the Campus Center’s Art and Trojan Traditions program, which enables the center to display works from its own permanent collection as well as the USC Fisher Museum of Art, host exhibitions, commission new works and support community outreach.

“The Campus Center’s Art and Trojan Traditions program is not only bolstered by its partnerships, it is dependent upon them,”

said Cindy Robinson, educational program coordinator for the Office of Student Life and Involvement. “We are thrilled to have a partner in Art Division with this new tapestry by Javier Carillo.”

To design the tapestry, Carillo created a woodcut print inspired by hip-hop dancer and Art Division staff member Wilber Urbina.

“Javier is a very mature artist,” said Dan McCleary, founder and director of Art Division and former adjunct professor at the USC Roski School of Fine Arts. “He’s 25, and he’s going to Pasadena City College, and he has great imagination and skill. He works in a realist, expressionistic vein, and a lot of his work is derived from Mexican imagery and his Mexican roots.”

Nava, who teaches and serves on the board of Art Division, shared his expertise with Carillo about how to transform his woodcut print into black-and-white cotton jacquard. Like Nava’s “Trojan Family Tapestry,” the Campus Center’s signature commission, the “Head Spin” tapestry was woven at a mill in Bruges, Belgium.

“It’s great for young artists to get to work with these really seasoned masters and hone their skills,” said Patrick Bailey, senior associate dean of students.

Selma Holo, director of the USC Fisher Museum of Art and professor of art history, considers the collaboration “an example of USC’s larger mission: being an agent of the creative imagination in our community.”

For more information, visit

usc.edu/student-affairs/construction/campus_center.

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• In honor of its 40th anniversary, the Norman Topping Student Aid Fund (NTSAF) hosted a variety of activities culminating with an end-of-the-year gala. The only student-initiated, student-funded, primarily studentadministered scholarship program in the nation, NTSAF assists students with financial need who demonstrate community awareness.

• Thrice proved nice for USC’s Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT) brothers, who won the national fraternity’s award for best chapter for the 2009-2010 academic year after previously carrying home the prize in 2003 and 2006.

The award recognized the USC chapter’s excellence in all areas, including brotherhood programming, community service, philanthropy and alumni outreach.

• Usually the main attraction, the Trojan Marching Band served as opening act when President Barak Obama spoke at a political rally to an audience of 37,500 on the University Park campus on October 22, 2010. The USC Song Girls performed alongside the band at the event.

P romoting local and global citiz e ns h ip

First Alternative Winter Break in Belize: Extending the Trojan Family

By Kate Mather

For the first time, the USC Volunteer Center offered students the opportunity to travel to Ladyville, Belize, through the 2010 Alternative Winter Break (AWB) program, and 19 students jumped at the chance.

USC’s Alternative Break trips send groups of dedicated Trojans to give their time and energy around the U.S. and the world. Past trip locations include Baltimore, Catalina Island, Death Valley, Navajo Nation, Orcas Island, Salinas, Peru, Guatemala and Isla de la Mujeres.

While Belize is home to Mayan ruins and the world’s second largest barrier reef, the AWB trip gave the USC volunteers the chance to focus on an aspect that tourists often forget — the widespread poverty that affects 39 percent of the country’s children.

The volunteers spent 20 days at Liberty Children’s Home, planning activities ranging from art projects to scavenger hunts to field trips.

“We were there every day,” said Nina Portugal, a senior English major who was one of the student coordinators for the trip. “We took them to the zoo and went camping.”

The students also built a greenhouse for the orphanage, which grows its own vegetables to use in meals and sell in the village.

The greenhouse helps the plants grow, protects them from hungry iguanas that roam the area and fits the volunteers’ goal of finding a sustainability project for the trip.

“They were very grateful,” said Victor Paredes-Colonia, a senior economics and international relations major and the other student coordinator for the trip. “They’ve sent us pictures of the greenhouse and shown us how the plants are growing.”

Student participants were glad to make a permanent impact on the orphanage, but said their interaction with the children had the most impact.

“This is the first time I’ve spent three weeks where I wasn’t my main focus,” said Lindsey Poole, a sophomore business major.

“At school, I’m always like, ‘I need to read this, and I need to sign up for this class, and I need to get this job,’ and in Belize it was honestly all about these kids.”

At the orphanage’s Christmas party Portugal said she recognized how much of an impact the volunteers had made: “We were dancing, and the kids were drumming and getting on the microphone and bringing us up on the stage, and it made us feel like we were a part of that family.”

The children also made an impact on the volunteers. “It was just a completely new experience jumping from the comforts of USC to another environment — a culture shock,” Paredes-Colonia said. “It really made you learn that there is so much out there beyond what we see at USC and in Los Angeles.”

Although next year’s alternative winter break coordinators will determine the trip’s destination, Paredes-Colonia and Portugal agree that Belize is a good option.

For more information, visit

sait.usc.edu/volunteer.

Cricket World Cup Broadcast: The Home Advantage

By Cristy Lytal

In addition to having more international students than any other U.S. university, USC may also have more cricket fans. USC is said to have the largest group of Indian students in the U.S. — and many of them gathered in Tommy’s Place to cheer on their country’s team in the Cricket World Cup, which was shown on three LCD televisions and one giant projector screen.

“If you can combine the American passion for football, basketball and baseball and put it in one, that’s what the Indians have for cricket,” explained Arvin Varma, associate director of Recreational Sports. “So it’s a great outlet for them.”

The Cricket World Cup takes place every four years, and in 2011, it coincided with

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President C. L. Max Nikias’ trip to India to reach out to alumni and build new ties.

“Since the president was going to be in India during the World Cup, one of my suggestions was that if he really wants to make a point and show how much USC takes care of its international students, especially the Indian community, we should try and screen this,” said Varma.

The games were broadcast for USC students free of charge. Despite the time change — which meant that the broadcasts began in the middle of the night and lasted until approximately 8 a.m. — 400 students attended each event.

The semifinal between India and Pakistan attracted students from both sides, who comported themselves graciously despite their

For more information, visit sait.usc.edu/recsports.

bitter cricket rivalry — and their home countries’ long history of political conflict. Even though the Indian team eventually won the eight-hour match by 29 runs, the Pakistani students made “the goodwill gesture of sending late-night grub to the Indians,” according to reporter Abby Sewell, who wrote a glowing article about the civility of the USC fans for the Los Angeles Times.

Many of these cricket fans also play the sport at USC, which has a 150-member club team that Varma coaches. Fourteen of these players recently won the American College Cricket’s western regional tournament and competed in the national tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “It’s a wonderful thing, especially for students coming from India,” said Varma. “We all grew up playing cricket.”

C r e ating a cultur e of e vid e nc e

First Annual Assessment Symposium: Around the World in 240 Minutes

By Nathan Carter

NASPA Grant: Assessing LGBT Peer Mentorship

By Kate Mather

Want to know how international students imagine life in the United States? “The Cosby Show” is a good place to start.

“I got information on the American family from the media — there’s always a funny dad, a very smart mother, funny kids, and they all eat dinner together,” said Emi Sumida, a postdoctoral fellow from Japan working at the University Park Health Center. “The reality was completely different.”

Sumida presented her experience at the Student Affairs Assessment Committee’s inaugural Assessment Symposium, which highlighted the international student experience at USC. Media stereotypes were a recurring theme throughout the five panels, which attracted 75 attendees from across the university.

“There’s a huge jump in the international population for this incoming class, and a lot of people are wondering how it’s going to affect our services,” said Jade Agua, assistant director of Asian Pacific American Student Services (APASS) and one of the symposium’s lead coordinators. “If we have data, we should share it, because it helps us all do our jobs better.”

The symposium began with a keynote presentation by Sonja G. Daniels, a recent USC Doctor of Education graduate and current associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students at California State University, Dominguez Hills. She discussed her three-year study on the effect of diversity courses on USC’s international population.

Daniels offered a statistical portrait of international students, which in 2010 included a record high 690,923 students nationally and 7,987 students at USC, the largest international population at any U.S. college or university. Chinese students comprise the largest part of USC’s international population at 28.1 percent, followed by Indian students at 21.6 percent.

Daniels explained that diversity courses, and especially the peer discussions they inspire, break down problematic stereotypes.

Attendees were invited to several breakout sessions. Anne Kaufman, business manager for

the Office of International Services (OIS) and graduate assistant Benjamin Logan explained Qualtrics, an online survey research tool, which is free for USC staff and faculty.

Chrissy Roth, associate director of Orientation Programs, used Qualtrics surveys to evaluate the 2010 American Culture Class, which introduces international students to American life, culture, manners and, of course, football.

Students ranked their level of comfort with topics such as American holidays, diversity issues and campus resources before and after the course. They registered meaningful increases in all topics and unanimously agreed that they better understood U.S. culture by the end of the 13-week course.

Kaufman and Paula Swinford, director of Wellness and Health Promotion, presented data from the 2009 American College Health Association National College Health Assessment II that contrasted international student health with that of the general student population. The results suggested a few problem areas on which OIS might focus.

A roundtable discussion offered international student responses to departmental surveys, as well as personal reflections from Sumida; Dana Adamova, a master’s student in economics from Kazakhstan; and Hashim Ali Zain Mir, a master’s student in petroleum engineering from India.

“I was so excited to come here that I didn’t even cry at the airport,” said Mir. “It was when I thought, ‘Who’s going to cook breakfast for me tomorrow?’ that I got scared.”

After each presentation, representatives from areas as diverse as Recreational Sports and the Division of Occupational Therapy engaged the presenters in discussion.

“I have about 3,000 master’s students in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and about 80 percent of them are international. I want to learn how to provide them with the best services,” said Carolyn Suckow, Viterbi’s director of student affairs. “As a result of this seminar, I’ve already learned some things that I want to refine for our own assessments.”

For more information, visit www.usc.edu/student-affairs/assess.

Talk may be cheap, but mentoring programs are not. Fortunately, the LGBT Resource Center received a $1,000 grant for its peer mentoring program, which provides LGBT students at USC with support throughout the school year.

The money — which comes from NASPA, a professional association for student affairs staff and students — will go toward assessing the program’s effectiveness through student surveys.

“What we’re trying to find out is whether or not the students progress from when they first enter the program to when they exit it,” said Vincent Vigil, director of the LGBT Resource Center.

Students who participate in the program first meet with their peer mentors in October and set two or three goals for the school year.

Unlike other mentoring programs the center offers, this one is specifically geared toward USC students.

“We have students on our own campus who need assistance, whether it be coming out or transitioning from high school to college — any concerns in their lives that they might need to talk to someone about,” Vigil said.

The mentoring program, which was formerly administered by Counseling Services, was taken over by the LGBT Resource Center more than five years ago. Since then, Vigil said, the number of students involved has jumped from 10 to 60 — 30 students and 30 student mentors.

“We’re hoping that this research will help us get future grants or funding for the program, because it’s going to take off,” he added.

For more information, visit

sait.usc.edu/lgbt/mentoring.

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How you can play a part …

Our goal is to enlist the help of all USC friends and family members to match the commitment the university has made in creating the Roger and Michele Dedeaux Engemann Student Health Center and the USC Student Leadership Center in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center.

These new construction projects represent more than just bricks and mortar: they are a means to deliver a comprehensive array of health services and leadership development programs to the Trojan Family.

Located on the fourth floor of the Ronald Tutor Campus Center, the USC Student Leadership Center will provide a home for more than 700 student organizations. United under a single roof, student leaders will inspire each other with their ideas, create partnerships to address campus issues and develop friendships that may not otherwise have formed.

The new health center will enable students to graduate from USC “wise, healthy and happy,” in the words of donor Michele Dedeaux Engemann. The five-story, 101,000-square-foot facility will provide primary and urgent care, counseling and health-promotion services to members of the USC community.

These spaces present once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to foster the full potential of students from all reaches of the globe. With the help of our USC community, the university looks forward to creating facilities that serve all members of the Trojan Family and symbolize the university’s enduring traditions of pride and excellence.

To learn more about how you can join us in supporting the Roger and Michele Dedeaux Engemann Student Health Center and the USC Student Leadership Center, please contact: Student Affairs Development University Advancement (213) 821-3516 sagiving@usc.edu studentaffairs.usc.edu/givingto

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