Over a period of three days in April 1922, USC was the site of an audacious spectacle that captured widespread attention in the community and throughout academia.

Dubbed the Pan-American Conference on Education, the event attracted some 400 delegates representing 14 Latin American countries as well as Great Britain and Italy. These distinguished visitors – pictured above in front of the College of Liberal Arts Building (also known as Old College) – had come to Los Angeles not only to take part in a series of lectures aimed at fostering commercial and educational cooperation among nations, but also to witness the investiture of Rufus Bernhard von KleinSmid as the fifth president of USC.

California governor William Stephens, a former law student at USC, officially opened the proceedings. Featured speakers included educators, government officials, and consular officers representing, among others, the California Institute of Technology, Rockefeller Institute, Mexican Consulate, University of Chile and Pan-American Union in Washington, D.C., and addressed diverse topics of international concern. President von KleinSmid’s inaugural address was titled, appropriately, “A World View of Education.”

The conference was the first of its kind ever held at a U.S. university, and USC was a particularly appropriate host. Although founded as a regional university, USC began attracting students from foreign lands in the early 1880s. A Japanese students’ association was organized in 1910, and Japanese-language editions of El Rodeo were produced in subsequent years. In 1911, President George F. Bovard authorized the establishment of a department of Oriental studies at USC (reportedly the first of its kind west of Chicago), and he announced the creation of a Latin American department in 1916.

If the university had been a magnet for international students before, the Pan-American Conference on Education catapulted USC into the international spotlight. It also provided a fitting tribute to the new president, who would go on to steer USC’s course over the next quarter-century.

Von KleinSmid was a distinguished-looking, flamboyant man with a rare gift for oratory, a flair for haberdashery and an obsession with puzzles. He delighted in solving mystery novels before finishing them. Upon his arrival at USC, he encountered what Rockwell Dennis Hunt, dean of the USC Graduate School from 1920 to 1937, referred to as “a full-scale municipal university-in-the-making.” It was a university built on the dreams, sacrifice and hard work of its founders, four prior presidents and generations of dedicated faculty, alumni and friends – and firmly committed to meeting the needs of the city in which it was born.

For von KleinSmid, however, international affairs were nothing short of a “magnificent obsession,” and he envisioned a USC that, together with the burgeoning metropolis of Los Angeles, would not only take a leading role in Southern California and the nation, but also move to the center of a global stage.

During his 25-year administration, von KleinSmid reorganized the university, expanded academic and professional offerings and presided over a building boom that transformed the physical landscape of the university. In keeping with his dramatic inauguration, he welcomed a steady stream of foreign dignitaries to campus and boosted USC’s international student enrollment as well as its roster of visiting faculty members from abroad.

In 1924, von KleinSmid founded the Los Angeles University of International Relations, which had the mission of providing training for diplomats, businesspeople and teachers on issues related to world affairs. Organized originally as an independent body, the program became formally affiliated with USC in 1928 and eventually evolved into the USC School of International Relations.

More than just a personal passion, von KleinSmid’s internationalism was an outgrowth of his keen awareness of contemporary trends – including what he described as “the growing interest in international problems following the rapid expansion of foreign trade, and the prophesy of American statesmen of the growing importance of the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering upon it in determining world affairs.” As such, it set a powerful precedent at USC, where continuing to raise the university’s international profile has been a top priority for each subsequent administration.

In the 1980s, President James H. Zumberge exhorted USC to strengthen its role as a Pacific institution. True to form, Troy rose to the challenge until, as President Steven B. Sample observed, it helped shape Los Angeles into the capital of the Pacific Rim. Today, a new strategic plan sets the university’s sights even higher: to expand USC’s global presence to become “one of the most influential and productive universities in the world.”

Rufus von KleinSmid would be proud.

If this glimpse of Trojan Lore has whetted your appetite for more, be sure to make your way to the Trojan Bookstores – either in person or via the Web, www.uscbookstore.com – in March, when a new volume will be appearing on the shelves. The first comprehensive history of the university to be published since 1969, The University of Southern California: 1880-2005, written by Sarah Lifton and Annette Moore, will fill you in on USC’s first 125 years.