USC Media and Public Relations

Featured Stories

Los Angeles Times featured a $10 million gift that will fund scholarships for military veterans attending the USC Marshall School and USC Viterbi School. The gift was given by USC Trustee, alumnus and former Marine William J. Schoen and his wife, Sharon, expanding a family endowment that has already provided $1.2 million in financial aid to 173 veterans attending USC. The Schoens have contributed a total of $16 million to the Schoen Family Scholarship Program for Veterans Endowment since it was established in 1986. A scholarship helped William Schoen earn an M.B.A. from the USC Marshall School. "I felt I had an outstanding education, and I wanted other veterans coming back from active duty to have the same opportunity that I had," he said. "These brave service members have contributed so much to our country's collective security and deserve a world-class education," said USC President C. L. Max Nikias. Nikias added that USC currently has more than 120 veterans on full scholarships. The story noted that USC received $200 million from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana to name the USC Dornsife College. The article stated that USC announced a fundraising goal of $6 billion last year, and 18 months into the campaign, nearly $1.5 billion has been raised.

Los Angeles Times featured the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll, which found that nearly two-thirds of California voters support Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed tax initiative. Sixty-four percent said they favored the measure, which would include a tax hike on millionaires as well as an increased sales tax. "It appears the governor has pulled off something of a political coup," Dan Schnur of the USC Dornsife College told KPCC-FM. Talking Points Memo reported that the poll found 57 percent of California voters would prefer President Obama, while only 36 percent would vote for Mitt Romney. The poll was also covered by Capital Public Radio and The Daily Beast.

USA Today featured research by Uri Elkayam of the Keck School of USC and colleagues, finding that heart attacks in pregnant women are three times more likely to be fatal than heart attacks in women who aren't pregnant. The research concludes that doctors need to be more aware of how heart attacks during pregnancy differ from typical heart attacks, Reuters reported. "We have very clear guidelines for [heart attack] in the general population. These guidelines, however, may not always apply to women with pregnancy-associated heart attacks and may actually cause more harm than good," Elkayam said. The research was covered by another USA Today story, another Reuters story, ABC News, CNN, Press TV (Iran), Terra (Peru), Haberturk (Turkey), Anadolu Ajansi (Turkey), Arzte Zeitung (Germany), ABC Radio Los Angeles affiliate KABC-AM and ABC News Chicago affiliate WLS-TV.

Los Angeles Times featured an upcoming tribute to late producer Dino De Laurentiis by the USC School of Cinematic Arts, part of Visions and Voices: The USC Arts & Humanities Initiative. The event will include screenings of some of the producer's most popular films, including "Serpico," "Blue Velvet" and "Bitter Rice." "Part of what made him wonderful is that he was willing to do a lot of different things," said School of Cinematic Arts Dean Elizabeth Daley.

El Mercurio (Chile) highlighted a collaboration between USC and the Chilean Education Ministry to create a scholarship enabling Chilean students to pursue Ph.D.s at USC with full tuition and an allowance for personal expenses. The scholarship will be available in fall of 2013.

KPCC-FM highlighted an event hosted by the USC Marshall School's Center for International Business Education and Research. The annual Asia/Pacific Business Outlook conference, now in its 25th year, was attended by representatives from hundreds of American companies looking to improve business practices in Pacific Rim countries. "It's not just data," said Richard Drobnick of the Marshall School. "It's really personal insight ... because these economies are changing so rapidly, 20 percent of our customers are repeat business."

KCRW-FM featured "Sight Specific: LACPS and the Politics of Community," an exhibition at the USC Fisher Museum of work from the Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies. The story reported that the show features "oddball photographers" and highlights the variety of photography cultivated in Los Angeles. Bangstyle also mentioned the exhibition.

Science News featured research by Anna Krylov of the USC Dornsife College and colleagues, finding that protons don't require hydrogen bonds to move across molecules. "For the proton, the hydrogen bond is like riding on a track that's going between two molecules," Krylov said. The new research found that molecules can rearrange themselves so the protons can still move. "The molecules help it find its way," Krylov said.

The Korea Times (South Korea) ran a column by Kim Chan-souk, visiting fellow at the USC Dornsife College's East Asian Studies Center, about South Korea as an emerging leader for peace. He noted that the country is hosting the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit, at which leaders from 53 countries and four international organizations will meet. "Korea, which has contributed to the global economy and democracy while being called the 'Miracle of the Han River' and the 'symbol of Asian democracy,' is emerging as a key player for peace to keep the globe from nuclear terrorist attacks," Chan-souk wrote.

The Huffington Post ran a column by Martin Kaplan of the USC Annenberg School about sexual violence in the U.S. military. Kaplan said that a proposed act that would expand legal rights and protections for the victims of sexual assault is an opportunity for Republican lawmakers to support women. "If the GOP were smart, it would jump at the chance to stand up for women in the military," Kaplan wrote.