Roger F. Olson Senior Vice President for University Relations, 1983-1993

Roger F. Olson, a veteran of more than 50 years of development activity, served as the University of Southern California’s senior vice president for university relations from 1983 to 1993.

Olson has consulted nationally and internationally on planning and executing effective capital campaigns, on organizing and motivating volunteers, and on issues related to non-profit management.

He worked with four USC administrations in a 33-year history. When he retired in December 1993, he was involved in programs which brought more than $1.6 billion in private gifts paid to the university. Upon his retirement, President Steven B. Sample and the USC Board of Trustees named Olson senior vice president emeritus, the first such honor accorded in the university’s history.

Olson joined USC’s fundraising operation in May 1960 during the administration of President Norman Topping. He participated in the Master Plan, the university’s major campaign of the 1960s, and was named executive director of development in 1963. He subsequently provided major leadership in USC’s Toward Century II campaign of the 1970s. In 1974, he was named associate vice president, university affairs. He was named senior vice president for university relations in March 1983.

A native of Minnesota, Olson earned a degree in journalism, with a minor in social and political science, in 1952 from Macalester College, St. Paul. He did graduate work at the University of Minnesota in educational administration.

He worked as a reporter for Associated Press, editor for an Iowa daily newspaper, and public relations director for Parsons College (1957-1958) and Upper Iowa University (1954-1957). He also worked for a professional fundraising company prior to joining USC. During his career in development, which began in October 1954, campaigns with his involvement have produced more than $3.0 billion.

Consulting clients served outside of California include Oregon State University and Arizona State University, and in California, the University of Southern California, Whittier College, Woodbury University, Flintridge Preparatory School, Santa Margarita Catholic High School, Westridge School for Girls, University of California, Riverside, the Orange County High School of the Arts, The Accelerated School, and the University of Redlands.

In the health, medical and social service fields, California clients include Eisenhower Medical Center, Betty Ford Center, Intercommunity Medical Center, Kenneth Norris, Jr. Cancer Hospital and Research Institute, Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Foundation.

Public sector clients include Classical KUSC-FM, the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Los Angeles County Museum of Science and Industry, the Pasadena Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Kidspace Children’s Museum, the Foundation for the Junior Blind, Junior Achievement, San Diego Hospice, South Coast Repertory Theater, Boys’ Town of Southern California (Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home, Omaha, Nebraska), and The Peregrine Fund (Boise, Id.).

International organizations advised include the Autonomus Universidad de Guadalajara (Mexico), Cambridge University (England), the New University of Spain (Madrid), University of Mexico, the Center for International Studies (Madrid), and America 2000 (America’s Cup Team Hawaii, in New Zealand in 2000).