2023:USC launches Frontiers of Computing, a $1B-plus initiative for advanced computation, quantum computing, AI and ethics as the largest, most comprehensive academic initiative in USC’s history. Learn more.
2023: USC names one of its landmark sports facilities in honor of Allyson Felix. The Allyson Felix Field honors an alumna and Olympian who has been a hero both on and off the track. Felix holds the most Olympic medals of any track athlete in U.S. history.
2022: USC and the Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Biomedical Engineering launches a major initiative to reimagine biomedical engineering and pharmaceutical sciences for the 21st century. USC received a gift of more than $230 million from Alfred E. Mann Foundation to support the expansion of USC’s academic and research activities at the intersection of health sciences and engineering.
2022: USC dedicates the landmark Center for International Public Affairs buildingin honor of author, historian and Trojan Joseph Medicine Crow.
2021: USC confershonorary degrees upon Nisei students, Japanese Americans who were forced to leave the university during World War II. The university also dedicates aquiet rock gardenoff Trousdale Parkway in their honor.
2021: To accommodate COVID-related restrictions, USC stages 14 commencement ceremonies over seven days to honor the classes of 2020 and 2021. The ceremonies are held at theLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum, marking the first time the stadium had hosted commencement since 1950.
2020: In recognition of her examinations of race, citizenship and belonging among immigrant groups in the United States, USC Dornsife ProfessorNatalia Molinawas named a 2020 MacArthur Fellow.
2020: Amid unprecedented circ*mstances, more than 19,000 graduates were recognized at USC’s first virtual conferring of degrees. USC students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends joined the celebration online to send off the Class of 2020.
More historical highlights from the 2020s:
2023
USC launches the $1B-plus initiative Frontiers of Computing, including a new School of Advanced Computing, enhancing educational opportunities in ethical computing, advancing new research and expanding USC’s footprint in Silicon Beach, part of L.A. County’s growing tech corridor.
2022
USC School of Pharmacy is renamed to USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The school will receive a $50 million endowment – the largest naming donation for a school of pharmacy in California.
2022
USC’s department of biomedical engineering is renamed to the Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering. The $35 million gift is one of the largest naming gifts to a biomedical engineering department in the nation.
2021
President Carol L. Folt announces that USC will be carbon-neutral by 2025.
2021
USC wins the Pac-12 Zero Waste Challenge for the 2021 football season. It’s the university’s third victory in the league wide competition focused on diverting the waste generated at home football games from landfills to recycling or composting.
2021
The Presidential Medallion, the university’s top honor, was awarded to all of USC’s staff, faculty and health care professionals in recognition of their extraordinary work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021
A record 65 USC-affiliated athletes compete at the Tokyo Olympics. They bring home 21 medals, and the golden streak continues: USC has won a gold medal in every Summer Olympics since 1912.
2021
USC hires Christopher Manning as its first chief inclusion and diversity officer. The new leadership role will build a framework that reinforces USC’s commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and belonging and to address ongoing challenges of discrimination and bias.
2020
USC shifted all its classes online in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic — a monumental behind-the-scenes effort taken up by teaching experts, administrators and information technology specialists to make the transition as smooth as possible.
2020
President Carol L. Folt announced a major financial aid expansion to benefit low- and middle-income families, extending USC’s long-time commitment to need-based funding by pledging more than $30 million in additional aid annually to expand the current pool.
2019: For the first time in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s history, more than 50% of itsincoming undergraduate classare women.
2019: Charles F. Zukoski is installed asUSC’s seventh provost.
2019: On September 20, 2019, the USC communitycelebrated Carol L. Folt’s inaugurationas the university’s 12th president.
2018: USC alumna and trustee, Wanda M. Austin was appointed Interim President on August 7, 2018 by the USC Board of Trustees. Dr. Austin is the first woman and African-American to lead the university.
2017: The USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience opens. Officially the largest building on USC’s campus, the Michelson Center brings together engineers and scientists in shared spaces designed to encourage collaborative research.
2017: USC Villageofficially opens its doors to the community. The largest development project in the history of South Los Angeles will be home to 2,500 students, and several restaurants and retailers.
2017: The George Lucas Family Foundation has expandedits support of student diversitywith a second $10 million endowment to the USC School of Cinematic Arts.The gift will provide scholarships for African-American and Hispanic students in undergraduate and graduate programs.
2016: The women’s soccer team wins its second NCAA title. They join rare company asone of only four women’s soccer programs nationallyto win multiple national titles, and is the first Pac-12 school to accomplish this feat.
2016: The Jill and Frank Fertitta Hall opens. The five-story building will be the home for USC Marshall School of Business’ undergraduate business program.
2016: A gift from social work pioneer Suzanne Dworak-Peck names the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. Her gift is one of the largest contributions from an individual to a school of its kind.
2016: USC sent 44 athletes to the 2016 Rio Olympics, more than any other American university, and they brought home 21 Olympic medals.
2016: World War II veteranAlfonso Gonzales became the oldest graduate in USC historyat 96 years old when he received his Bachelor of Science degree in zoology.
2016: A gift from Larry Ellison establishes the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC, which will house an interdisciplinary center for cancer research.
2016: Associate Professor Viet Thanh Nguyen was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, one of America’s most prestigious literary honors.
2015: USC’s launches its new Sustainability 2020 plan that will provide the framework for the university’s ongoing efforts to integrate sustainability into all facets of the university, including academic research, curriculum development, energy and water conservation and procurement.
2015:A grant from the Annenberg Foundation to the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism launches a long-term initiative aimed at increasing access to journalism education and professional development for people from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.
2015: Japanese Prime Minister and USC alumnus Shinzo Abe visits University Park campus.
2015: A gift from Mark and Mary Stevens will endow and name the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute.The gift promises to improve the lives of millions of people worldwide by speeding the translation of basic research into new therapies, preventions and cures for brain injury and disease, including Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia and traumatic brain injury.
2014: Construction opened on the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience. The center is made possible by a $50 million gift from Gary and Alya Michelson and is slated to be the largest building on USC’s campus, focusing on biomedical research.
2014: Initiated by a lead gift of $50 million from the Annenberg Foundation, the Wallis Annenberg Hall opened on October 1, 2014. The 88,000-square-foot, future-focused facilitywas designed with the input of students, faculty and staff.
2014: USC Village, a 1.25-million-square-foot residential and retail center that will reshape the university and its residential life breaks ground.
2014: The six-level, 98,000-square-foot Dr. Verna and Peter Dauterive Hall building opens to house several multidisciplinary centers focused on developing solutions to pressing social challenges.
2014: The USC Shoah Foundation celebrated its 20th anniversary on May 7, 2014. Institute founder and USC trustee Steven Spielberg recognized President Barack Obama with the Institute’s highest honor, theAmbassador for Humanity Award.
2014: The USC Men’s Water Polo team makes history, winning an unprecedented sixth consecutive national championship.
2013: USC Professor Arieh Warshel is awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems.
2012: USC marks the 100th anniversary of the Trojans nickname — one of the most iconic monikers in sports history — for its athletic teams.
2011: Provost Elizabeth Garrett poses with USC president C. L. Max Nikias during her installation ceremony.
2010: President C. L. Max Nikias and his wife, USC first lady Niki C. Nikias, walk past thousands gathered in Alumni Park during his inauguration ceremony on October 15, 2010.Read his biography
2010: The Ronald Tutor Campus Center, opened August 26, 2010, provides a gathering place for all members of the Trojan Family.
More historical highlights from the 2010s:
2019
The Lord Foundation of California, which supports faculty research and teaching at USC, receives $260 million from the sale of LORD Corp. The foundation is expected to distribute proceeds to USC in 2020, making it USC’s largest-ever gift from a named donor. The gift would be used to bolster research and studies in areas including artificial intelligence, big data, analytics, and environmental sustainability.
2019
USC’s newest academic building, Iovine and Young Hall, officially opens. The 40,000-square foot, state-of-the-art facility includes a dedicated “incubator” space for Trojan alumni.
2018
The USC Marshall of School of Business announces that more than 50 percent of its full-time MBA Class of 2020 are women — this gender parity is a first for top-tier U.S. business schools.
2017
USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences professor Viet Thanh Nguyen receives a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
2017
USC researchers provide key analysis of the data gathered annually by the county and city of Los Angeles, as part of the university’s Initiative to Eliminate Homelessness.
2017
An independent economic impact study on USC showed that the university is one of California’s strongest economic engines. The study found that USC spurs $8 billion annually in economic activity in the Los Angeles region and California.
2017
The Campaign for USC reached its $6 billion goal 18 months earlier than anticipated, securing its place among the most successful campaigns in higher education. The university extends its fundraising through 2021 to support high ambitions and access for students.
2016
USC alumni Oscar De Los Santos ’15 and Jung Kian Ng B.S., M.S. ME ’14 were among 32 Americans who were awarded a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford.
2016
USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism professor Josh Kun receives a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
2016
USC’s Neighborhood Academic Initiative celebrates 25 years of preparing low-income neighborhood students for admission to a college or university.
2016
For the first time ever, women outnumbered men in USC’s graduate video game design program – ranked #1 by Princeton Review for game design.
2015
Professor Dana Gioia was named California Poet Laureate by Governor Jerry Brown.
2015
The George Lucas Family Foundation endows the recruitment of USC Cinematic Arts students from communities underrepresented in the entertainment industry.
2015
A gift from Rick Caruso founds the USC Tina and Rick Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery to support advanced research for the field.
2015
In partnership with Los Angeles policymakers and educational institutions, USC lays out the strategic groundwork for the region’s biotechnology corridor.
2014
A gift from Ronnie Chan founds the USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, the first naming gift ever made in the field.
2014
The USC Men’s Tennis team won the university’s 100th national championship.
2013
The FDA approved the Argus II retinal prosthesis system, developed by University professor Mark Humayun and his team.
2013
Keck Medicine physicians become the first to implant the FDA-approved epilepsy-controlling device, the NeuroPace RNS.
2013
Campaign for USC reaches a milestone, raising $3 billion in a record-breaking 3 years.
2013
USC School of Cinematic Arts opens the new Interactive Media Building, showcasing video game design, transmedia, and world building projects.
2013
Campus health gets an upgrade as the five-story, 101,000-square-foot USC Engemann Student Health Center opens.
2012
In 2012, the university added its sixth arts school—The USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance.
2011
USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences professor Jacob Soll receives a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
2011
The School of Policy, Planning, and Development is renamed the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy with a $50 million gift from the Price Family Charitable Fund.
2011
With a transformative gift of $150 million from theW. M. Keck Foundation, USC’s academic medical enterprise is named Keck Medicine of USC.
2011
USC receives $110 million from Julie and John Mork to create the Mork Family Scholars Program — USC’s largest single gift ever for undergraduate scholarships.
2011
The country’s largest public literary festival, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, finds a new home on USC’s University Park Campus.
2011
USC receives $200 million – the largest single gift in its history to date – from Dana and David Dornsife.
2011
Elizabeth Garrett is installed as USC’s first female provost.
2011
University Professor and historian Kevin Starr is inducted into the California Hall of Fame.
2010
USC becomes the first academic institution in the world to be designated an International Safe Community by the World Health Organization.
2010
C. L. Max Nikias becomes the 11th president of USC.
2010
The Institute of International Education’s annual Open Doors report names USC the country’s leader in international student enrollment for the ninth year in a row.
2010
USC opens its sixth international office (and fifth in Asia) in Seoul, South Korea.
2006: A member of the breakdance troupe SickStep performs at Spark!, a multimedia showcase on August 18, 2006, marking the inaugural year of Visions and Voices: The USC Arts and Humanities Initiative.
2005: Trojan victory signs held high, members of the Trojan Family fill Hahn Central Plaza on October 6, 2005, kicking off Festival 125, a four-day all-university open house celebrating USC’s 125th anniversary.
2004: Alumnus Joseph Medicine Crow, historian and the last war chief of the Crow Tribe of Montana, was awarded an honorary doctorate degreeduring the 2003 Commencement ceremony.
2001: Hollywood turns out big-time in March 2001, as USC’s Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts marks a new era in the making of motion pictures. At the head table are Avid Technology CEO David Krall, filmmakers George Lucas ’66, Robert Zemeckis ’73, Steven Spielberg and Dean Elizabeth Daley.
More historical highlights from the 2000s:
2009
USC Gould School of Law professor and associate dean Elyn Saks receives a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
2009
USC’s ICT and School of Social Work launch a military social work and veteran services program, the first of its kind at a research university.
2009
USC ranks number one on the list “Saviors of Our Cities: A Survey of Best College and University Civic Partnerships,” and scores highly on others.
2008
The White House awards the 2007 National Medal of Science to Andrew Viterbi, trustee, faculty member and namesake of the USC Viterbi School.
2008
USC is ranked highly in the first national “Great Colleges to Work For” poll by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
2008
The U.S. Department of State honors USC with one of four inaugural Benjamin Franklin Awards for Public Diplomacy.
2007
USC professor of composition Morten Lauridsen receives the National Medal of Arts.
2007
USC inaugurates the Discovery Scholars and Global Scholars programs to recognize undergraduates who demonstrate original scholarship and creativity.
2007
The USC Edward R. Roybal Institute for Applied Gerontology is established.
2007
The USC Levan Institute for Humanities and Ethics is created, engaging students with the humanities and a particular focus on ethics and values.
2006
USC University Professor Kevin Starr is awarded the 2006 National Humanities Medal.
2006
An analysis by Economics Research Associates reports that USC is responsible for $4 billion annually in economic activity in Los Angeles County alone.
2006
The university announces the creation of the USC U.S.-China Institute.
2005
The Princeton Review selects USC as one of 81 “Colleges with a Conscience” based on its outstanding record of community involvement.
2004
The Board of Trustees approves the university’s new strategic plan: “USC’s Plan for Increasing Academic Excellence.”
2004
The Los Angeles City Council dubs January 21 “USC Trojans’ Day in L.A.” to honor the university’s 2003 football, women’s volleyball, and men’s water polo teams.
2003
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security selects USC as its first Homeland Security Center of Excellence.
2002
At the close of the “Building on Excellence” campaign, USC has raised $2.85 billion in nine years, a record in higher education fundraising.
2001
The Association of American Colleges and Universities singles USC out as one of 16 “leadership institutions.”
2001
USC sponsors its first international conference, convened in Hong Kong.
2001
USC’s Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts opens as the country’s first and only fully digital filmmaking training facility.
2000
USC launches the Institute for Creative Technologies, a partnership between the university, the U.S. Army and the entertainment industry.
1999: Time magazine names USC College of the Year 2000.
1999: The agreement naming the Keck School of Medicine of USC is signed on July 28, 1999. Participating in the occasion are (from left) USC general counsel Todd Dickey, USC president Steven B. Sample, W. M. Keck Foundation attorney James P. Lower and foundation chairman and president Robert A. Day.
1995: USC Friends and Neighbors Service Day is inaugurated in 1995, teaming students with community residents to paint, sweep, shovel, weed and provide general clean-up at schools, shelters and nonprofit organizations in the vicinity of the University Park campus. The one-day “volunteer blitz” later expands to include the Health Sciences campus in 2000.
1994: Back on campus after attending the Nobel Prize ceremony in Sweden, 1994 Nobel laureate George A. Olah and benefactor Katherine B. Loker ’40 get together for a photo-op.
1991: Musician, outdoorsman and electrical engineer Steven B. Sample takes office as USC’s tenth president on March 31, 1991.Read his profile.
More historical highlights from the 1990s:
1999
Time magazine and the Princeton Review name USC “College of the Year 2000” in recognition of its outstanding community service.
1999
USC announces its distinctive Renaissance Scholars program.
1999
In appreciation for a $110 million gift, USC’s medical school is renamed the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
1998
The General Alumni Association becomes the USC Alumni Association and adopts a new catchphrase: “lifelong and worldwide.”
1998
The schools of public administration and urban planning merge to form the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development.
1998
Alfred Mann gives $112.5 million to establish the Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at USC.
1997
For the 1997-98 academic year, USC for the first time in its history accepts fewer than half of the students who apply as new freshmen.
1996
The USC President’s Distinguished Lecture Series is inaugurated.
1995
USC launches Friends and Neighbors Service Day, an annual “volunteer blitz” that teams students and community residents to clean up local neighborhoods.
1994
USC Professor George Olah wins the Nobel Prize in chemistry. The USC Good Neighbors Campaign is inaugurated.
1993
USC launches the eight-year Baccalaureate/M.D. Program, a partnership between the college and the medical school.
1993
Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg gives $120 million to create the USC Annenberg Center for Communication.
1991
Steven B. Sample becomes USC’s tenth president.
1990
President James H. Zumberge announces that “The Campaign for USC” has raised $641.6 million and added more than a dozen new buildings.
1984: When the Olympics arrive in summer 1984, the University Park campus is transformed into Los Angeles’ largest Olympic Village, as evident in this view down Trousdale Parkway.
1983: USC’s 1983 Homecoming, themed “A Salute to USC Olympians,” brings 120 of the university’s living Olympic medalists to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
1982: Instituted in 1982, USC’s Academic Honors Convocation has its origins in a special centennial faculty convocation held in October 1980 as “a symbol of the debt we owe to those who have contributed to the first 100 years of academic achievement at USC,” according to President Zumberge. Among the honorees at that event were (pictured, from left) Anton Burg, J. Paul Guilford, Harold von Hofe, Morris M. Mautner, Robert Vivian, Hugh Edmondson, Halsey Stevens and Arlien Johnson.
A noted glaciologist, James H. Zumberge becomes USC’s ninth president in 1980.Read his profile.
More historical highlights from the 1980s:
1989
The Trojans’ new bookstore debuts, with one of the largest collections of trade journals and texts in Los Angeles.
1989
USC becomes the first university in the world to offer a doctorate in occupational science.
1988
USC launches the Center for Scholarly Technology and the Institute for Molecular Medicine.
1987
With the opening of a Carl’s Jr. restaurant on campus, USC becomes the first U.S. institution of higher education to own and operate a fast-food franchise.
1986
The university assumes stewardship of the historic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Freeman House in the Hollywood Hills.
1986
USC launches the Freshman Seminars, which address broad topics in contemporary research and scholarship.
1984
U.S. President Ronald Reagan visits USC before officially opening the Olympic Games.
1984
The XXIIIrd Olympiad comes to Los Angeles, and University Park campus is the site of the largest Olympic Village.
1983
McDonald’s Olympic Swim Stadium opens on the University Park campus.
1983
Looking ahead to the summer Olympics in 1984, USC’s 1983 Homecoming celebration includes “A Salute to USC Olympians.”
1982
USC inaugurates the annual Academic Honors Convocation to “honor the excellence that is in our midst.”
1982
USC’s pathbreaking NIBS program (Neurological, Informational and Behavioral Sciences) begins training graduate students.
1981
USC’s Doheny Memorial Library celebrates the acquisition of its 2 millionth volume.
1980
USC celebrates its centennial, and James H. Zumberge becomes the university’s ninth president.
1976: Gerald R. Ford, 38th president of the United States, brings his campaign against Jimmy Carter to USC on October 7, 1976. Following his defeat at the polls, he returns to USC twice in 1977 to lecture to a variety of classes. Here, he visits with USC President John R. Hubbard.
1972: Founded in 1972, the USC Joint Educational Project (JEP) has been headquartered in the former residence of USC’s fourth president, George F. Bovard, since 1976.
1970: News of the appointment of John R. Hubbard as USC’s eighth president is announced at a press conference on August 3, 1970.Read his profile.
1970: On September 12, 1970, USC’s football teambecomesthe first fully integrated teamto play in the state of Alabama, beating the Crimson Tide, 42-21.
More historical highlights from the 1970s:
1979
Fleetwood Mac invites the Trojan Marching Band to perform on the title song for the album “Tusk,” which becomes the band’s first platinum album.
1977
USC establishes an institute dedicated to hydrocarbon research, later named the Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute.
1977
U.S. President Ford sends USC President Hubbard an autographed $10 bill to satisfy their wager on the Rose Bowl game in which USC defeated Michigan.
1976
Gerald R. Ford, 38th president of the United States, makes a campaign visit to USC.
1976
USC’s Black Alumni Association is founded.
1976
USC launches its “Toward Century II” fundraising campaign, which will bring in over $309 million in five years.
1975
The USC Davis School of Gerontology is founded, the first of its kind in the country.
1974
USC receives a National Endowment for the Humanities grant for the development of Thematic Option, the university’s innovative undergraduate honors program.
1974
The USC Mexican American Alumni Association is established.
1974
Dedeaux Field opens its gates, and USC’s baseball team wins its fifth straight NCAA title — to date still an unmatched record.
1974
The USC School of Urban and Regional Planning is founded.
1973
The USC Credit Union opens its doors.
1972
The USC Information Sciences Institute is founded, providing key support for the development of the Internet into a national and international system.
1972
The USC Joint Educational Project (JEP) — one of the oldest service-learning programs in the United States — is launched.
1971
USC creates the Department of Emergency Medicine — the country’s first.
1971
The USC Annenberg School for Communication (renamed the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in 2009) is established.
1970
The USC student body votes to assess itself a fee for a student-sponsored scholarship fund, which becomes known as the Norman Topping Student Aid Fund.
1970
Historian John R. Hubbard is elected as USC’s eighth president. President Emeritus Norman Topping is elected as USC’s second chancellor.
1968: Brochures for USC’s Urban Semester, founded in 1968, outline opportunities for students to use the city as a laboratory for study in fields ranging from urban and regional planning to architecture and music.
1966: Designed in 1908 by renowned architects Charles and Henry Greene as a retirement home for the heirs to the Procter & Gamble legacy, the Gamble House in Pasadena is an outstanding example of American Arts and Crafts architecture.Learn more.
1965: The USC mobile dental clinic.
1961: President Topping (center), USC Board of Trustees chairman Leonard K. Firestone (left) and Master Plan Committee national chairman H. Leslie Hoffman announce USC’s blueprint for action, the “Master Plan for Enterprise and Excellence in Education,” on May 17, 1961.
1960: John F. Kennedy, who is later to become the 35th president of the United States, speaks from the steps of USC’s Doheny Memorial Library to a first-time voter convocation in 1960.
More historical highlights from the 1960s:
1968
USC launches “The Urban Semester,” a program that sends students out of the classroom and laboratory and into the city streets and halls of power.
1966
The Gamble House is deeded to the City of Pasadena in a joint agreement with the USC School of Architecture.
1965
Tailback Mike Garrett wins USC’s first Heisman Trophy.
1965
The USC School of Dentistry founds its mobile dental clinic, now the oldest and most extensive self-contained facility of its kind.
1961
On May 17, President Topping announces the “Master Plan for Enterprise and Excellence in Education.”
1960
Then U.S. senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Vice President Richard Milhous Nixon speak at USC.
1958: At his inauguration as USC’s seventh president in October 1958,Norman H. Topping (left) receives the university’s new silver mace, representing the authority of the president’s office, from USC Board of Trustees chairman Asa V. Call, while renowned Shakespeare scholar Frank Baxter, who designed the mace, looks on.Read Topping’s profile.
More historical highlights from the 1950s:
1959
The USC Associates, the university’s premier academic support group, is founded.
1958
Dr. Norman Topping becomes USC’s seventh president.
1957
USC’s tradition of on-campus pre-game picnics begins.
1955
Psychologist J.P. Guilford’s famed “Structure of Intellect” theory proposes a 3-dimensional model of intelligence instead of a single IQ score.
1954
For the first time, a white steed makes an appearance at a Trojan football game, with rider Art Gontier. USC’s first Songfest is held at the Greek Theater.
1953
University Avenue (today’s Trousdale Parkway) is closed to vehicular traffic, marking a major step in creating a self-contained, pedestrian-friendly campus.
1952
USC’s Institute for Safety and Systems Management begins offering degree programs in safety, human factors and systems management.
1952
USC launches the first doctoral program in social work in the western United States.
1952
USC’s Health Sciences campus opens.
1950
USC English professor and distance-learning pioneer Frank Baxter is named by Life magazine as one of America’s eight finest college professors.
1947: George Tirebiter I serves as USC’s student body mascot from 1947 to 1949.
1947: Fred D. fa*gg Jr., takes office as USC’s sixth president in 1947.Read his profile.
1946: The KUSC studio broadcasts a live performance.
More historical highlights from the 1940s:
1948
Troy Camp is founded.
1947
The University Senate (reorganized as the Faculty Senate in 1973 and renamed the Academic Senate in 1992) is formed at USC.
1947
A feisty stray dog, nicknamed George Tirebiter, is adopted as USC’s official student body mascot.
1947
Fred D. fa*gg Jr. becomes USC’s sixth president.
1946
KUSC goes on the air.
1945
The USC Department of Drama is founded.
1945
USC establishes biokinesiology and physical therapy departments (now merged into the Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy).
1943
In the midst of World War II, some 2,000 military trainees add to crowded conditions on campus.
1942
USC’s Department of Occupational Therapy opens as one of the first programs of its kind in the country.
1941
The tradition of passing the bell between rival schools is established.
1939: USC’s Elizabeth Holmes Fisher Gallery opens in 1939, the first museum established in Los Angeles devoted exclusively to the exhibition and collection of fine art.
1932: Doheny Memorial Library’s doors open for the first time on September 12, 1932.
More historical highlights from the 1930s:
1939
USC’s Elizabeth Holmes Fisher Gallery (now called the USC Fisher Museum of Art) is dedicated.
1937
Gil Kuhn becomes the first Trojan football player to be drafted into the pros.
1935
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visits the USC campus and receives an honorary doctor of laws degree.
1934
USC debuts its “University of the Air,” an educational outreach program broadcast on radio.
1932
USC’s Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library is dedicated.
1930
With more than 700 foreign students (10 percent of the student body), USC ranks third in the United States in international enrollment.
1930
The Trojan Shrine is unveiled in celebration of USC’s 50th anniversary.
1923: In 1923, before Greta Garbo wanted to be alone, she was willing to pose at USC in a track uniform while coach Dean Cromwell held the starter’s gun.
1922: The first attempt at a sequential card stunt for a football crowd is made under the direction of Lindley Bothwell in the stands on USC’s Bovard Field.
Rufus B. von KleinSmid, formerly president of the University of Arizona, accepts the post as USC’s fifth president in 1921.Read his profile.
More historical highlights from the 1920s:
1929
The USC School of Public Administration opens. USC’s Department of Cinema — the country’s first filmmaking program — is established.
1927
USC confers its first Ph.D. to David Welty Lefever in the School of Education. The USC College of Engineering is formed.
1924
USC establishes the country’s first school of international relations. The university holds its first formal observance of homecoming.
1923
The USC Trojans play in the first varsity football game ever held at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, beating Pomona College 23–7.
1923
The first Rose Bowl game is played in the present Pasadena location, with USC winning against Penn State 14–3.
1922
USC creates an extension division, offering afternoon and evening courses to the community in locations ranging from Glendale to San Diego.
1922
USC dental student Milo Sweet composes the music for USC’s official fight song, “Fight On,” as an entry in a Trojan Spirit contest.
1921
Rufus B. von KleinSmid becomes USC’s fifth president.
1920
The USC School of Social Work is started by Emory Bogardus. USC’s College of Commerce and Business Administration opens.
1912: USC Theta Psi fraternity.
1911: On October 11, 1911, United States President Taft visits Hollywood. In this photograph, he stands in the back of a train car, looking out the open window toward a group of onlookers in the foreground.
More historical highlights from the 1910s:
1919
USC’s Department of Architecture, the first program of its kind in Southern California, opens.
1918
Mrs. Amy Winship, a girlhood friend of Abraham Lincoln, attends USC at age 87 and is fondly nicknamed “the oldest co-ed in the world.”
1915
Emory Bogardus, later famed for research on immigration, race, and ethnicity, founds the USC sociology department.
1915
Ten-year-old Teresa Van Grove enrolls at USC, making her the youngest Trojan.
1914
The famous African-American political leader, educator and author Booker T. Washington visits the USC campus.
1914
A group of international students founds the USC Cosmopolitan Club to “promote friendship” among students from Asia, Latin America and Europe.
1912
The university announces a groundbreaking course in automotive science, the first of its kind in the world.
1912
The USC Faculty Wives’ Club is formed (renamed the Faculty Women’s Club in 1995).
1912
Freshman Fred Kelly ’16 becomes USC’s first Olympic gold medalist. Greek letter societies are established.
1912
Los Angeles Times sportswriter Owen R. Bird dubs USC’s spirited athletic team the “Trojans.”
1911
President William Howard Taft visits the USC campus.
1910
USC organizes a centrally administered graduate program governed by a Graduate Council composed of senior faculty members.
1904: Emil Breitkreutz, USC’s first Olympic athlete, is the first of hundreds of athletes who will attend USC before, during or after their Olympic appearance — making USC the school that has sent more athletes to the Olympic Games than any other university.
1903: George Finley Bovard is unanimously elected USC’s fourth president on April 8, 1903.Read his profile.
More historical highlights from the 1900s:
1909
USC’s Department of Education opens, to attain full school status nine years later.
1906
The USC Department of Physics offers coursework leading to degrees in civil and electrical engineering.
1905
The Women’s Club of USC (renamed Town and Gown in 1927) is established to generate support for the university and its students.
1905
The USC School of Pharmacy opens, as the first in Southern California.
1904
USC’s first Olympic athlete, Emil Breitkreutz ’06, brings home a bronze medal for the 800 meters.
1903
George Finley Bovard (brother of Marion McKinley Bovard) becomes USC’s fourth president.
1902
USC’s second school newspaper, the Cardinal, is published. The monthly publication lives for a brief three numbers.
1892: USC’s second president, physician Joseph P. Widney, takes the university’s helm in 1892.Read his profile.
More historical highlights from the 1890s:
1897
USC begins offering courses in dentistry.
1896
USC’s law school begins when a group of apprentices form a voluntary association to study under a prominent attorney.
1895
Rev. George W. White becomes USC’s third president. USC adopts cardinal and gold as its official colors.
1892
USC’s first student newspaper, a four-page weekly called The University Rostrum, appears.
1892
Dr. Joseph P. Widney (brother of Robert Maclay Widney, and first dean of the university’s medical school) becomes USC’s second president.
1888: The first USC football squad is formed in 1888. Before being nicknamed the Trojans in 1912, they are known variously as the USC Cardinals and as the Methodists.
1885: USC’s original medical school building at 445 Aliso Street, whose previous occupant had been the Vache Fréres Winery, eventually is expanded to equip the growing school with laboratories, an outpatient clinic and a free dispensary.
1884: This 1884 view of “downtown” Los Angeles, showing Main Street north of Temple, would have been a familiar sight to the members of USC’s first graduating class.
1880: History was made September 4, 1880, when nearly one-tenth of the population of Los Angeles turned out to witness the laying of the cornerstone for USC’s first structure—today’s Widney Alumni House. As building namesake and USC founder R.M. Widney reflected some six years after: “The unfinished building in the midst of an unoccupied, uncultivated plain was a lonely looking object to those who only saw the present. For some the curtains rolled aside and the coming centuries were in view, with the possibilities of the great work standing out in strong outlines for the encouragement of the workers.”
1880: Marion McKinley Bovard becomes the first president of USC in 1880.Read his profile.
More historical highlights from the 1880s:
1888
USC plays its first football game and trounces the opponent 16–0.
1885
USC receives a gift to create its first endowed faculty position, the John R. Tansey Chair in Christian Ethics.
1885
USC’s College of Medicine, the first in Southern California, is established. Eight alumni form USC’s first alumni association.
1884
USC holds its first commencement, with a graduating class of three students; a woman, Minnie Miltimore, is named class valedictorian.
1884
USC’s school of music is founded.
1881
USC’s first dormitory, Hodge Hall, is opened.
1880
USC formally opens, with 53 students and 10 faculty. A college of liberal arts, a university band and a debate team are established.
1880
Marion McKinley Bovard is named the university’s first president, concurrently serving as professor of mental and moral philosophy and natural sciences.
1879: The three men who made the original gift of land to establish USC are as diverse as 19th-century Los Angeles (left to right): Isaias W. Hellman, a German-Jewish banker and philanthropist; former California governor John G. Downey, an Irish-Catholic pharmacist and businessman; and Ozro W. Childs, a Protestant horticulturist.
1871: Judge Robert Maclay Widney not only is responsible for setting in motion the events that lead to USC’s founding, but also helps bring the Southern Pacific Railroad to Los Angeles, establish the city’s first horse-drawn trolley and organize the first chamber of commerce.
1870: City of Los Angeles 1870 (mural by Jim Doolin)
More historical highlights from the 1870s:
1879
Judge Widney forms a board of trustees and secures a donation of 308 lots of land from three community leaders.
1871
Judge Robert Maclay Widney and other citizens in the frontier town of Los Angeles begin pursuing the idea of establishing an institution of higher education.
