Becoming a Research University (1948–1970)

As support for higher education increased, USC began a new, modern era that brought maturity and increased significance both nationally and internationally. President Fred D. Fagg Jr. began the process by instituting modern cost-accounting practices, establishing a development office, beginning an aggressive program of land acquisition, and purchasing land near the Los Angeles County Hospital for a health sciences campus. President Fagg also initiated the construction of six buildings and increased library collections by two-thirds.

Dr. Norman Topping’s inauguration as President Fagg’s successor in 1958 began two of the most dynamic decades in USC’s history. Topping established a comprehensive planning commission that in May 1961 produced the “Master Plan for Enterprise and Excellence in Education,” a courageous and forward-looking academic blueprint that included a fundraising goal of $106,675,000 to be raised in 20 years. In fact, the goal was reached and surpassed in little more than five years. The crowning achievement of the Topping years was USC’s election to the Association of American Universities, an organization that today is made up of 62 leading public and private universities. The AAU bases membership on general excellence with an emphasis on graduate and research programs.

1948

Troy Camp is founded.

1949

Using the Hancock Foundation-sponsored benthoscope — a five-foot ball with steel walls and quartz windows for viewing the mysteries of the deep — USC’s Otis Barton sets a world record by becoming the first mortal to descend alone to a depth of 2300 feet off Santa Cruz Island.

1950

Life magazine singles out USC’s Frank Baxter as one of the eight finest college professors in the United States. (Baxter received two Emmys for his innovative “Shakespeare on TV” course.)

1952

USC’s Health Sciences Campus opens. USC initiates the first doctoral program in social work in the western United States. USC’s Institute for Safety and Systems Management — the first academic unit in the country to offer degree programs in safety, human factors, and systems management — is launched. USC becomes the West’s first institution fully equipped to produce a television show.

1954

Young trumpet player and Trojan Marching Band member Herb Alpert works his way through two years of USC by playing at weddings and bar mitzvahs. USC’s first SongFest is held at the Greek Theater.

1955

California names USC’s first building, today’s Widney Alumni House, as State Historical Landmark no. 536. Tommy Trojan debuts, with rider Art Gontier.

1957

USC’s first computer — the gift of an alumnus — is installed in Biegler Hall. USC begins its tradition of on-campus pre-game picnics.

1958

Dr. Norman Topping becomes USC’s seventh president, beginning a period of dynamic growth for the university. After Marion M. Bovard (’87), Topping is the second USC alumnus (B.A. ’33; M.D., ’36) to serve as president.

1960

Then U.S. senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Vice President Richard Milhous Nixon speak at USC.

1961

President Topping announces the “Master Plan for Enterprise and Excellence in Education,” an academic blueprint that doubles the endowment, adds 30 new buildings to the Health Sciences and University Park campuses, and helps the school gain election to the Association of American Universities.

1962

The Ford Foundation awards a $6.5 million challenge grant to USC — the largest in USC’s history and the largest ever made to support education in Southern California.

1965

The USC School of Dentistry founds its mobile dental clinic, now the oldest and most extensive self-contained facility of its kind.

1966

The Gamble House — the “ultimate California bungalow” designed by renowned Arts & Crafts architects Charles and Henry Greene — is deeded to the City of Pasadena in a joint agreement with the USC School of Architecture.

1968

USC’s Department of Electrical Engineering joins Mathematics to establish the first program in Southern California leading to the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science.

1969

USC is elected to membership in the prestigious Association of American Research Universities.