Issue: Winter 2004

President’s Page

By Steven B. Sample

As I took part in the opening of a Los Angeles exhibition celebrating the life and work of Albert Einstein, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times asked for my thoughts about this 20th-century genius. Recalling the inspiration I drew from viewing Einstein’s manuscripts for the first time in Jerusalem, I told the reporter that I continue to marvel at Einstein’s ability to approach complex problems by starting with a simple question. For example, the question that led to Einstein’s discovery of special relativity was, “How do you chase a light wave, and if you catch up with it, what would it look like?”

USC’s new strategic plan, adopted by the Board of Trustees in late 2004, has its genesis in the exploration of a simple question: “What should the research university of the 21st century look like, and how can USC become the model for this new and developing institution?” The new plan sets forth a vision for the coming years, capitalizing on our unique strengths in interdisciplinary research and global connections. The plan also takes into account three distinct trends in higher education.

What are these three trends? First, we believe the 21st-century research university must increasingly focus on meeting societal needs, including solving such problems as debilitating diseases, computer security breaches, and transportation gridlock, as well as advancing human civilization through science and technology, the arts, and the humanities. Second, in an increasingly international world, the research university must have a strong global reach and presence. Finally, universities must concentrate on “learner-centered” education, which gives primacy to the needs of the students rather than those of the institution and faculty.

The new strategic plan is not a roadmap with detailed directions and a final destination. Rather, it’s a treasure map of possibilities for pushing out our current frontiers in order to encourage interdisciplinary research, lifelong learning, the strengthening of our Pacific Rim connections, the proliferation of technology transfer, and collaborations with industry and other universities. Inherent in the plan is an emphasis on creativity and flexibility, in keeping with USC’s entrepreneurial heritage.

It would be a mistake to think that the strategic plan signals a completely new beginning at USC. It’s no accident that the plan is being rolled out and implemented in 2005 as USC celebrates the 125th anniversary of its founding. Our anniversary theme is “Inventing the future, honoring the past.” Yes, we’re inventing the research university of the future, but we’re doing so by building on USC’s core strengths of entrepreneurship, ethics, the Trojan Family, and academic excellence – intrinsic values that have made USC what it is today and will determine what it will be tomorrow.

As the university prepares to implement the new plan, we should all thank our provost, Lloyd Armstrong, who, having guided the development of this plan with insight and foresight, will return to the university faculty on July 1. He was the driving force behind USC’s highly successful 1994 Strategic Plan, its update four years later, and our new strategic plan.

I encourage you to read the plan by linking to www.usc.edu/admin/provost/strategicplan/. The plan has the admirable quality of brevity, and it emphasizes USC’s central mission, which is “the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit.”

A bold commitment to make our great university even greater, this plan invites each of us to “move USC further on its journey to becoming one of the most influential and productive research universities in the world.” I can think of no better challenge for the Trojan Family.