Issue: Summer 2003

President’s Page

By Steven B. Sample

I have been a college teacher for over four decades, ever since my first days as a graduate teaching assistant. Of all the titles I hold or have held – university president, company director, professor, consultant, administrator, inventor, engineer, dean and so on – “teacher” is the title of which I am most proud. This one word sums up all that I hold dear in my professional life.

There are a lot of great teachers at USC, both on and off the faculty. Many of these great teachers are professors; some are members of the professional staff; and some are students themselves. (Yes, as much as we on the faculty may hate to admit it, students at highly selective universities like USC often learn as much from their fellow students as they do from their professors!) Collectively the teachers at USC do a superb job of educating our students, from freshmen to postdocs.

One of the hallmarks of the academic experience here at USC is that learning has no boundaries. It takes place in the classroom, the laboratory, and the library, but also in the residence halls, along Trousdale Parkway and in the neighborhoods around us.

Let me share with you some examples of how learning has no boundaries at USC. At the new International Residential College at Parkside, 400 undergraduates from the United States and from countries all around the world live and study together under the guidance of resident faculty masters. The college’s programs and extracurricular activities accommodate a broad mix of languages and cultures, all the while fostering connections and improving understanding. The goal is for every student to develop the tools and the network he’ll need to succeed in our increasingly global society.

Under the direction of our dean of religious life, Rabbi Susan Laemmle, a student group has developed a lecture series called “What Matters to Me and Why.” Over informal lunches, students and other members of the university community have the opportunity to get to know faculty and administrators as they discuss personal, intellectual and spiritual issues. Important and personally-charged questions are asked and answered openly and with mutual respect. I participated in this series in Fall 2002, and found that it was as much a learning experience for me as for the 100 or so students, faculty and staff in attendance.

The Academic Culture Initiative is a faculty-led effort to link the professoriate and the Office of Student Affairs, thereby increasing opportunities for faculty-student interaction. It sponsors a number of initiatives to facilitate teaching and learning outside the classroom. For example, students can attend an academic weekend retreat at which small groups of undergraduates join USC professors for in-depth exploration of important issues. Recent retreats have focused on topics such as “Where is America Going?” and “Religion: Who Needs It?” The cost to the student to attend an academic weekend retreat is nominal, but the intellectual stimulation and growth that come from attending may well change a student’s life.

Walking around campus I see teachers and students having coffee or a meal together. I see them gathered at artistic performances or guest lectures. These activities foster an atmosphere of intellectual engagement and bolster community cohesion – essential ingredients for our students’ as well as our faculty’s development.

I co-teach a class on leadership to about 40 students each spring semester. I also entertain students in my home, meet with them in my office, and talk with them wherever I am on our two campuses. As with my faculty colleagues who devote a much larger share of their time to teaching, my students learn from me and I from them. As Chaucer wrote, “Gladly wold he lern, and gladly teche.” It is, as they say, a good deal on both sides.