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Steven B. Sample, President
University of Southern California
1991–PresentSteven B.
Sample became the 10th president of the University of Southern
California in March 1991. He is the university's first holder of
the Robert C. Packard President’s Chair.
Sample is an electrical engineer, a musician, an outdoorsman, an
author, and an inventor. In February 1998 he was elected to the
National Academy of Engineering for his contributions to consumer
electronics and leadership in interdisciplinary research and
education. In 2003 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences in recognition of his accomplishments as a university
president.
He remains an active member of USC’s faculty, co-teaching with
management expert Warren Bennis a popular course for juniors and
seniors titled “The Art and Adventure of Leadership.” His book,
The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership, has been a Los Angeles Times
best-seller, was named one of six “must-reads” for leaders by Harvard
Management Update of the Harvard Business School, and has been
translated into five languages. He donates all royalties to a
scholarship fund for USC undergraduates.
Under Sample's leadership, USC has become world-renowned in the fields
of communication and multimedia technologies, received national acclaim
for its innovative community partnerships, and solidified its status as
one of the nation's leading research universities.
USC milestones in the past 15 years include conducting a
national-record-setting fundraising campaign and receiving five gifts
of $100 million or more, an achievement unmatched by any other
university in the nation; the awarding of the Nobel Prize in chemistry
to USC faculty member George Olah; being named College of the Year 2000
by Time magazine; and the recruitment of one of the most academically
talented freshman classes in the nation.
Sample is the author of numerous journal articles and published papers
in science and engineering and higher education. His patents in
the field of digital appliance controls have been licensed to
practically every major manufacturer of appliance controls and
microwave ovens in the world. Over 300 million home appliances
have been built using his inventions.
Sample has chaired a number of statewide and national groups examining
the state of elementary, secondary, and higher education. In 1994
he convened a group of Los Angeles leaders which was awarded a historic
$53 million challenge grant from the Annenberg Foundation to accelerate
reforms in local public schools. Sample co-founded the
Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), a consortium of 34
premier Pacific Rim research universities located in 15
countries. He is a past chairman of the Association of American
Universities (AAU), a consortium of the 63 leading North American
research universities. He chaired a special AAU committee on
postdoctoral education, and co-chaired an AAU task force on increasing
protection for human subjects in university-based research.
Sample came to USC from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he had served as president since 1982.
Sample earned B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering
from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has
received honorary doctorates from the State University of New York at Buffalo (2006), the University of Notre Dame (2005),
Northeastern University (2004), the University of Nebraska (1995),
Purdue University (1994), Hebrew Union College (1994), the University
of Sheffield, England (1991), and Canisius College, Buffalo (1989).
The recipient of numerous awards, Sample recently received the
Distinguished Business Leader Award from the Los Angeles Area Chamber
of Commerce, the Heart of the City Award from the Central City
Association of Los Angeles, and the Chancellor Charles P. Norton Medal,
the highest award bestowed by the State University of New York at
Buffalo. He has also received the Humanitarian Award from the National
Conference of Christians and Jews (now the National Conference for
Community and Justice), the Hollzer Memorial Award from the Jewish
Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, the Eddy Award for
excellence in economic development from the Los Angeles County Economic
Development Corporation, and the University of Illinois’ Alumni
Achievement Award.
Sample is married to the former Kathryn Brunkow of Park Ridge, III. The Samples have two daughters and two grandchildren.
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