The setting couldn’t have been more appropriate. It was on the Bovard stage in 1980 that Professor Lauridsen’s first choral composition was performed. When it came time for him to speak at our reception, Professor Lauridsen with heartfelt poignancy reflected on his extraordinary journey, and how it began when he came to campus as a 19-year-old. Within weeks he knew he wanted to compose. With no portfolio and no experience, he nevertheless persuaded the chairman of the Department of Composition, Professor Halsey Stevens, to let him try. And the rest, as they say, is history. Thirty-five years and three USC degrees later, having benefited from the guidance and support of several faculty mentors, Professor Lauridsen (now Distinguished Professor Lauridsen) is widely hailed as one of the world’s foremost choral composers.

By the way, this was USC’s second national medal in a row. Last year University Professor Kevin Starr received the National Humanities Medal. To the best of our knowledge, USC is the only university to have earned back-to-back national medals.

Our students and faculty have recently earned a spate of major awards. We now have our ninth Rhodes Scholar, Reed Doucette, a member of our varsity men’s basketball team and a senior in mechanical engineering. In addition to earning a 3.97 GPA, this exceptional young man is completing a minor in business. At USC he has done extensive research on solar cells, a pursuit he’ll continue when he goes to Oxford.

Our provost, C. L. Max Nikias, was awarded the 2008 Simon Ramo Medal by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the most prestigious society in the world in this field. He was recognized for his outstanding leadership in engineering systems and education.

Also last fall, Provost Nikias and four other leading scientists at USC were named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in recognition of their contributions to science and engineering. The others were Maja Mataric´, a professor of computer science and neuroscience in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering; Douglas Capone, an expert in marine biogeochemistry, and Howard Taylor, a retired professor of chemistry and physics, both in USC College; and Jean Shih of the USC School of Pharmacy.

In addition, Professor Jack Knott, dean of the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development, was named a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration for his outstanding contributions to this field. At our medical school, Namir Katkhouda was inducted into France’s elite Legion of Honor. He received the award – the highest honor the country can bestow – for his pioneering work in laparoscopic surgery.

Awards like these are public affirmations of the talent and achievements of individuals and of the entire University of Southern California.

When William Faulkner accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature 1950, he said that he did his work “not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before.” I believe that our award winners are motivated by that same yearning to innovate and create. And not only our award winners. From what I see day in and day out on our campuses, this kind of drive and imagination is pervasive among our faculty and students.

National honors serve as affirmations as well as motivations. I can make an easy prediction: We’ll be seeing many more prestigious honors for members of the Trojan Family in the years ahead.