University of Southern California

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{{Infobox_University |image = Image:Usc seal.gif |name = University of Southern California |motto = Palmam qui meruit ferat
(Let whoever earns the palm bear it) |established = 1880 |type = Private |president= Steven B. Sample |city = Los Angeles |state = California |country = USA |undergrad = 16,474 |postgrad = 15,686 |staff= 4,390 |campus = Urban - 235 Acres |Athletics = 17 Varsity Teams |Mascot = Traveler |free_label = Athletics |free = 17 Varisty Teams |free_label = Nicknames |free = Trojans (Men) 

               . Women of Troy (Women)

|website= www.usc.edu |endowment= $2.7 billion }} The University of Southern California (also known as USC, 'SC, Southern California and Southern Cal), was founded in 1880 and is California's oldest private research university, and is located in the urban center of Los Angeles, California.

USC remains one of the most selective Universities in the nation [1], matriculating only 2,741 students of over the 31,000 that applied in 2005. USC was also named "College of the Year 2000" by the editors of Time magazine and the Princeton Review for the university's extensive community-service programs. USC is also home to Chemistry Professor George Olah, director of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute, and winner of the Nobel Prize. USC achieved the rare distinction of having two National Science Foundation-funded Engineering Research Centers -- the Integrated Media Systems Center and the Center for Biomimetic Microelectronic Systems. In addition, The U.S. Department of Homeland Security selected USC as its first Homeland Security Center of Excellence.

USC's most recent fund-raising drive raised nearly $2.9 billion, second greatest in the history of higher education. USC and its partner institutions have recently completed or soon will be constructing 27 new buildings, which will provide nearly 8.1 million square feet (750,000 m²) of new space for research, teaching, patient care, and enrichment of student life.

USC athletics also has a proud tradition; Trojan teams have won more national championships, 84 men’s (including a national-best 72 NCAA titles) and 20 women’s, than all but 1 other university.

Contents

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Overview

Founded in 1880 as a Methodist University, on land donated by three wealthy Los Angeles residents, it has grown to international prominence. The university opened with an enrollment of 53 students and a faculty of 10. Its first graduating class in 1884 was a class of three - two males and a female valedictorian. The University is no longer a Methodist institution, having severed formal ties with the church several decades ago; it is currently not religiously affiliated.

USC has grown substantially since its founding. Besides its main campus ("University Park Campus"), which lies about 2 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles, the university also operates the Health Sciences Campus about 2 miles northeast of downtown; an Orange County center in Irvine for business, pharmacy, social work and education; and the Information Sciences Institute, with centers in Arlington, Virginia and Marina del Rey. The School of Policy, Planning, and Development also runs a satellite campus in Sacramento. In 2005, USC established a federal relations office in Washington, D.C.. There is also a Health Sciences Alhambra campus which holds The Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research (IPR) and the Masters in Public Health Program. USC went international in 2004, when it collaborated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University to offer the USC (Executive) EMBA program in Shanghai. Beginning in 2006, the Marshall School of Business will have a San Diego satellite campus.

USC's nickname is the Trojans, epitomized in the statue of Tommy Trojan near the center of campus. Until 1912, USC students (especially athletes) were known as Methodists or Wesleyans, though neither name was approved by the university. During a fateful track and field meet with Stanford University, the USC team was beaten early and immensely. After only the first few events it was statistically impossible for USC to win but the team fought back, winning many of the later events, to lose only by a slight margin. After this contest, Los Angeles Times sportswriter Owen Bird reported that the USC athletes "fought on like Trojans," and the president of the university at the time, George Bovard, approved the name officially.

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The University Park Campus

The University Park campus is in the West Adams district of South Los Angeles, 2 miles southwest of Downtown Los Angeles. The campus' boundaries are Jefferson Boulevard on the north and northeast, Figueroa Street on the southeast, Exposition Boulevard on the south, and Vermont Avenue on the west. Since the 1960s, through campus vehicle traffic has been banned. The University Park campus is within walking distance to Los Angeles landmarks such as the Shrine Auditorium, Staples Center, and Los Angeles Coliseum. A popular spot for filmmakers, it has stood in for such institutions as Harvard and UC Berkeley in movies and on television. Most buildings are in the Romanesque style, although some dormitories, engineering buildings, and physical sciences labs are of various Modernist styles (especially two large Brutalist dormitories at the campus' northern edge) that sharply contrast with the predominantly red-brick campus. Beautifully landscaped courtyards and parks provide a welcome contrast from the urban environment outside the campus.

USC's role in making visible and sustained improvements in the neighborhoods surrounding both the University Park and Health Sciences campuses earned it the distinction of College of the Year 2000 by the TIME/Princeton Review College Guide. Roughly half of the university's students volunteer in community-service programs in neighborhoods around campus and throughout Los Angeles. These outreach programs, as well as previous administrations' commitment to remaining in South Los Angeles amid widespread calls to move the campus following the 1965 Watts Riots, are credited for the safety of the university during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. (That the university emerged from the riots completely unscathed is all the more remarkable in light of the complete destruction of several strip malls in the area, including one just across Vermont Avenue from the campus' western entrance.)

As well, USC has an endowment of $2.7 billion and also is allocated $430 million per year in sponsored research. USC became the only university to receive four separate nine-figure gifts — Two seperate gifts of$100 million from Ambassador Walter Annenberg to create the Annenberg Center for Communication, $112.5 million from Alfred Mann to establish the Mann Institute of Biomedical Engineering and $110 million from the W.M. Keck Foundation for USC's School of Medicine.

Major new facilities opened with the fusion of new money including the:

  • USC University Hospital
  • The Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Library
  • The USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center expansion
  • The Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute
  • The International Residential College at Parkside
  • The Marshall School of Business Popovich Hall.
  • Galen Center - home to USC Basketball and Volleyball.
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Health Sciences Campus

Located three miles from downtown Los Angeles and seven miles from the University Park campus, USC's Health Sciences campus is a major center for basic and clinical biomedical research, especially in the fields of cancer, gene therapy, the neurosciences, and transplantation biology. The 50-acre campus is home to the region's first and oldest medical and pharmacy schools, as well as acclaimed programs in occupational therapy (ranked #1 by U.S. News & World Report) and physical therapy.

In addition to the Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, which is one of the nation's largest teaching hospitals, the campus includes three state-of-the-art patient care facilities: USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, USC University Hospital, and the Doheny Eye Institute. USC faculty staff these and many other hospitals in Southern California, including the nationally acclaimed Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Because of its outstanding ranking and achievements in research and health care, the Health Sciences campus is a focal point for students, patients and scientists from around the world.


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Administration

Image:USC Bovard Auditorium enh.jpg USC is a private corporation, and is ultimately controlled by a Board of Trustees, with roughly 50 voting members and several Life Trustees, Honorary Trustees, and Trustees Emeritus who do not vote. Voting members of the Board of Trustees are elected for five-year terms. One fifth of the Trustees stand for re-election each year, and votes are cast only by the Trustees not standing for election. Trustees tend to be high-ranking executives of large corporations (both domestic and international), successful alumni, members of the upper echelons of university administration or some combination of the three.

The university administration consists of a President, a Provost, several Vice Presidents of various departments, a treasurer, a Chief Information Officer, and an athletic director. The President is Steven B. Sample and the Provost is C.L. Max Nikias.

The College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, The Graduate School, and the 18 Professional Schools are each lead by an Academic Dean.

USC occasionally awards emeritus titles to former administrators. There are currently six Administrators Emeriti.

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List of Past University Presidents

University Presidents

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Academics

Image:Annenberg School for Communication-USC.jpgImage:Pertusati University Bookstore--USC.jpgImage:USC School of Cinema and Television.JPGImage:USC-Viterbi School of Engineering.jpgImage:USC-Bing Theatre.jpg The University of Southern California is well known for its professional schools in law, dentistry, medicine, business, engineering, journalism, public policy, and architecture, as well as for its School of Cinema-Television. Additionally, USC's School of International Relations is the third oldest, and of the most highly regarded, such schools in the world. The incoming freshman class for the 2005 fall term had an average GPA of 4.05 out of 4 and an average SAT score of 1368 out of 1600. USC is a longtime member of the Association of American Universities and is the oldest private research university in the American West.

The School of Cinema-Television, the first in the country and perhaps USC's most famous wing, confers degrees in critical studies, screenwriting, and production. In 2001, the film school added an Interactive Media Division studying video games, virtual reality, and mobile media. The school is supported by its famous alumni, whose ranks include such well-known graduates as George Lucas, Ron Howard, Robert Zemeckis, John Milius, Ben Burtt, and David Wolper.

A Department of Architecture was established at USC within the School of Fine Arts in 1916, the first in Southern California. This small department grew rapidly with the help of the Allied Architects of Los Angeles. A separate School of Architecture was organized in September 1925. The School of Architecture is world famous for its strong focus on the design aspect of the architectural field. The school has been home to teachers such as Richard Neutra, Ralph Knowles, A. Quincy Jones, William Pereira and Pierre Koenig. The school of architecture is also home to notable alumni Frank Gehry, Thom Mayne, Raphael Soriano, Gregory Ain, and Pierre Koenig. The school has two Pritzker Prize winners, the highest award in architecture (often referred to as "the Nobel of architecture"), and is tied with Yale for the most American winners.

The Annenberg School for Communication is among the best in the nation, being one of the two communication programs in the country endowed by Walter Annenberg (the other is at the University of Pennsylvania). The school of journalism features a core curriculum that requires students to devote themselves equally to print, broadcast and online media for the first year of study. This approach promises a breadth of knowledge across various journalistic media. USC's Annenberg School for Communication enjoys a massive endowment.

On March 02, 2004, the USC School of Engineering, headed by Dean Max Nikias, was renamed to the Andrew and Erna Viterbi School of Engineering. This was done to honor Qualcomm founder Andrew Viterbi and his wife Erna, who had recently donated $52 million to the school. The gift was the largest ever to rename an existing school of engineering.


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Rankings

USC was ranked "most selective" [2] and 30th [3] overall in the country by U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges in 2006.


Currently, USC ranks among the top 10 private universities receiving federal funds for research and development support and in the top 20 among all universities in the United States. The Center at the University of Florida ranks USC 12th in the Top American Research Universities. The Marshall School of Business has an Undergraduate ranking of 9th nationally.

The 2006 U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Graduate Schools ranked the following:

  • The School of Cinema-Television - 1st
  • Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy - 1st
  • Viterbi School of Engineering - 7th
  • School of Policy, Planning, and Development - 7th
  • Marshall School of Business Professionals and Managers MBA Program - 5th,
  • Marshall School of Business Entrepreneur Program - 6th
  • Leventhal School of Accounting - 7th
  • Marshall School of Business for MBA - 9th
  • International Relations Program- 10th
  • The USC School of Law - 18th.
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Demographics

The following figures are accurate as of the 2004-2005 academic year.

USC has a total enrollment of 32,160 students, of which 15,686 are at the postgraduate level. 350 postdoctoral fellows are supported along with 900 medical residents. There are currently 4,390 faculty and about 14,000 support staff. There are roughly 180,000 living USC alumni. The university has attracted more international students over the years than any other American university. Currently, about 10 percent of USC's students represent over 115 countries. The USC Alumni Association has more than 200,000 current members.

The male:female ratio at USC is nearly 1:1, and 49% of new students come from out of state. The ethnic breakdown of undergraduates is:

The graduate student body consists of over 5,500 international students from 115 different countries.

There are currently 180,000 living Trojan Alumni, with nearly 75% of all alumni living in California.

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Admissions

[4] 31,634 students applied admitting 8,408 and a final matriculation population of 2,741 with an average gpa of 3.7 on the 4.0 scale. 19 percent of the students are SCions, or legacy students while 9 percent are the first generation in their family to attend any form of college. There were also 194 National Merit Scholars in the most recent admitted class.

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Academic subdivisions

USC's academic departments fall either under the general liberal arts and sciences of the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences for undergraduates, or The Graduate School for graduates, or the university's 17 professional schools. A full listing of academic subdivisions follows alphabetically by subject:

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Athletics

Image:Trojans.gif USC participates in the NCAA Division I-A Pacific Ten Conference. USC's cross-town rival is UCLA, with whom there is fierce athletic and scholastic competition. However USC has a traditionally older rivalry with Notre Dame that predates the one with UCLA by three years. The Notre Dame rivalry stems mainly from the annual football game played between these two universities and is considered the greatest cross-country rivalry of college football.

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Trojan Athletic Achievment

  • Trojan teams have won more national championships, 84 men’s (including a national-best 72 NCAA titles) and 20 women’s, than all but 1 other university;
  • The Trojans won at least 1 national team title in 26 consecutive years (1959-60 to 1984-85);
  • USC won the National College All-Sports Championship an annual ranking by USA Today (previously the Knoxville Journal) of the country’s top athletic programs — 6 times since its inception in 1971;
  • USC won the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy, a year-long all-sports competition between Troy and crosstown rival UCLA, in its inaugural 2001-02 season and again in 2003-04 and 2005-06
  • Trojan men athletes have won more individual NCAA titles (290) than those from any other school in the nation (the Women of Troy have brought home another 41 individual NCAA crowns);
  • Four Trojans have won the prestigious Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in America: diver Sammy Lee (1953), shot putter Parry O’Brien (1959), swimmer John Naber (1977) and swimmer Janet Evans (1989).
  • Two Women of Troy athletes have won the Honda-Broderick Cup as the top collegiate woman athlete of the year: Cheryl Miller (1983-84) and Angela Williams (2001-02). And Trojan women have won 8 Honda Awards, as the top female athlete in their sport.
  • Troy has also established a stellar reputation and a long tradition of nurturing Olympic athletes. Since 1904 (not including the 2004 Summer Olympics), 340 Trojan athletes have competed in the Games, taking home 104 gold medals (with at least 1 gold in every summer Olympics since 1912), 59 silver and 54 bronze.

There have been more Trojans in the Olympics than from any other university in the world - in fact, if USC were its own nation in the Olympics, it would rank 19th in the world in gold medals earned [5].

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Men's NCAA National Titles

Image:Swimteam.JPG

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Women's NCAA National Titles

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Notable Team History

Many teams have won national championship and the following is a brief history of the more notable team at USC.

Football - Since starting football in 1888, USC has amassed an impressive all-time won-loss record of 707-297-54 (a .694 winning percentage). A December 1998 SPORT magazine ranking listed USC as the No. 4 all-time college football program of the 20th century.

The USC Football team has been voted National Champions 11 [3] times USC is also known for its Heisman Trophy winners. With the awarding of the 2005 Heisman to Reggie Bush, USC and Notre Dame are tied for the most Heisman winners at 7. However, Notre Dame has won this award only once in the last 40 years whereas all of the USC Trojans have been awarded within that time. Three of the last four Heisman winners have been Trojans - Reggie Bush in 2005, Matt Leinart in 2004, and Carson Palmer (now with the Cincinnati Bengals) in 2002. Four other Trojan tailbacks have won the coveted Heisman Trophy as college football’s outstanding player: Mike Garrett in 1965, O.J. Simpson in 1968, Charles White in 1979 and Marcus Allen in 1981 Also notable, The Pro Football Hall of Fame counts USC and Notre Dame tied as the universities with the most Hall of Famers at 10.USC’s record against Pac-10 opponents is a stellar 367-153-29 (.695).

Since 1959, the Trojans have won the conference championship 15 times and tied for the title on 6 other occasions.USC has the nation’s fourth best bowl winning percentage (.643) among the 65 schools which have made at least 10 bowl appearances and its 29 Rose Bowl appearances is an all-time best. USC players have been named first team All-American 129 times, with 44 consensus selections and 22 unanimous choices. [6]

Baseball - No school in the country can match the long tradition USC has in baseball. With 12 national championships in the sport, Troy is far and away the leader in that category (no other school has more than 5). Since starting baseball in 1924, the Trojans have compiled a record of 2,221-1,093-15 (.669) against college opponents, and have captured outright or tied for 38 conference championships.The incomparable Rod Dedeaux coached USC from 1942-86, leading the school to 11 of its NCAA crowns, including 5 straight from 1970-74.

USC boasts many successful major leaguers such as Ron Fairly, Don Buford, Tom Seaver, Dave Kingman, Fred Lynn, Roy Smalley, Steve Kemp, Mark McGwire, Randy Johnson, Bret Boone, Jeff Cirillo, Barry Zito, Geoff Jenkins, Aaron Boone, Jacque Jones and Mark Prior. In all, 89 Trojans have gone on to play in the major leagues and scores more in the minors. [7]

Men's Basketball - Only about 4 dozen schools have more than 1,000 victories in college basketball, and USC is one of them. Since starting basketball in 1907, the Trojans have compiled a record of 1,357-984 (.580), winning 14 league championships. [8]

Women's Basketball - After improving steadily, USC first reached the pinnacle of success in women’s basketball in 1983 and the Trojans have been near the top almost ever since, winning 2 national championships and playing in 4 Final Fours.

The Women of Troy have made the NCAA tourney 6 of the past 14 years, including advancing to the regionals 3 times. Lisa Leslie, who became an Olympic and pro star, won the Naismith Award in 1994 (she was the MVP of the first WNBA All-Star Game). Tina Thompson was the No. 1 pick in the 1997 WNBA draft. Cynthia Cooper was twice an Olympian and WNBA MVP. [9]


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Marching band

USC is also known for its marching band, known as The Spirit of Troy, which also calls itself The Greatest Marching Band in the History of the Universe. The band has been featured in at least 10 major movies and performed in the 1932 and 1984 summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. They have also performed on television shows and with other musicians.

The band was notable in the late 1970s for its appearance on the title track of the 1979 Fleetwood Mac album Tusk, for which the band was awarded two platinum records. No other marching band has earned a platinum record.

Recently, the band produced an instrumental version of the popular song "The Kids Aren't Alright" and "Hit That," both by The Offspring (whose lead singer is a USC alumnus), and appeared with OutKast at the 2004 Grammy Awards in their hit song "Hey Ya!".

Following the University's footsteps, the Spirit of Troy has also gone international. One of only two American groups invited to perform, the USC band marched the Hong Kong Chinese New Year parade in both 2003 and 2004. The Trojan Marching Band performed at the 2005 World Expo in Nagoya, Japan. In May of 2006, the Trojan Marching Band will travel to Italy.

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Athletic Facilities

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Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is one of the greatest and largest stadiums in America. It combines the traditional and the modern into a premier athletic environment. USC has played football in the Coliseum ever since the grand stadium was built in 1923. In fact, the Trojans played in the first varsity football game ever held there (beating Pomona College, 23-7, on Oct. 6, 1923). The Coliseum was the site of the 1932 Olympic Games and hosted the opening and closing ceremonies and track events of the 1984 Olympics. Over the years, the Coliseum has been home to many sports teams besides the Trojans, including UCLA football, Los Angeles Rams, Raiders, Express and Xtreme football, and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball. The Coliseum has hosted various other events, from concerts and speeches to track meets and motorcycle races. The Coliseum has a present full-capacity of 92,000 seats (almost all are chair-back seats). The Coliseum is located on 17 acres in Exposition Park, which also houses museums, gardens and the Los Angeles Sports Arena. [10]

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Galen Center

Scheduled to open in September of 2006, the Galen Center will be the basketball and volleyball facility for the University of Southern California Trojans. Located at the southeast corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Figueroa Street in the Exposition Park area of Los Angeles, it will be right across the street from the campus and near the Shrine Auditorium. The facility will be 255,000 square feet, with a 45,000 square feet pavilion, which will have three practice courts and offices. The seating capacity will be 10,258. There will also be 22 private suites. Galen Center construction will cost an estimated $147 million, which includes the arena, team offices, and a state of the art practice facility. Additionally, this facility could play host should Los Angeles receive the 2016 Olympic Games.

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Tradition

As one of the oldest universities in California, the University of Southern California has a long and storied history resulting in a number of modern traditions, some of which are outlined here:

  • The colors of USC are cardinal and gold, which were approved by USC's third president, Rev. George W. White in 1895.
  • USC's official fight song is Fight On, which was composed in 1922 by USC dental student Milo Sweet (with lyrics by Sweet and Glen Grant).
  • The Trojan Shrine, better known as 'Tommy Trojan', is a bronze statue located at the center of campus, and an integral figure in school pride, embodying the values of a Trojan: Faithful, Scholarly, Skillful, Courageous, and Ambitious.
  • Traveler, a majestic white horse, has been the USC mascot since 1961. Mounted by a rider dressed as a Trojan warrior, Traveler gallops around the field at every home football game whenever USC scores.
  • Prior to Traveler, making his first football game appearance in 1940, USC's mascot was a campus mutt called George Tirebiter that went around campus chasing cars.
  • Spectators walking from campus to the Coliseum and back kick the base of one of the flag poles at the edge of campus on Exposition Boulevard to ensure good luck for the football team at their next game.
  • The week preceding the annual football matchup with UCLA is known as "Troy Week" and features a number of traditions including Save Tommy Night, the Troy Week Bonfire, and all-night vigils by the Trojan Knights to protect the campus from UCLA Bruins.


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Victory Bell

The 295-pound bell originally clanged from atop a Southern Pacific freight locomotive. It was given to UCLA in 1939 as a gift from the UCLA Alumni Association. For 2 seasons, cheerleaders rang the bell after each Bruin point.

At the opening game of UCLA's 1941 football season, 6 members of USC's Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity infiltrated the UCLA rooting section. After the game, they helped Bruin students load the bell onto a waiting truck bound for Westwood. But then, one Trojan quietly removed the key to the truck, and while the Bruins went to get a replacement, the Trojans drove off with the bell.

The bell remained hidden for more than a year, first in the fraternity's basement, then in the Hollywood Hills, Santa Ana and other locations. At one point, it was even concealed beneath a haystack. Bruin students tried to locate the bell, but to no avail.

The controversy died down for a while, until a picture of the bell was printed in "The Wampus," a USC magazine. This re-ignited the rivalry, as students from UCLA retaliated by painting the Tommy Trojan statue at USC and then Trojan students burned USC initials on UCLA lawns. Police had to be called several times. The conflict got so out of hand that Dr. Rufus B. von KleinSmid, then USC's president, threatened to cancel the USC-UCLA game if any further disorders occurred.

On Nov. 12, 1942, the bell was wheeled in front of Tommy Trojan and the student body presidents of both schools - USC's Bill McKay and UCLA's Bill Farrer - signed an agreement stating that thereafter the annual winner of the Trojan-Bruin gridiron clash would keep the bell for the following year. In the case of a tie, the bell would be retained by the school that won the previous year's game. The USC Alumni Association later repaid the UCLA Alumni Association for half the cost of the bell.

At the time, the arrangement might have seemed like a bad deal for the Bruins, since they had yet to defeat USC. But that first year, 1942, UCLA beat USC, 14-7.

Since the bell became a trophy, its carriage has been painted cardinal 35 times while in USC's possession and blue 27 times while in UCLA's hold (there have been 4 ties).

Although the Victory Bell is one of college football's most famous trophies, it is probably the least seen. For all but 2 days of the year, the bell sits in a warehouse or a vault. The universities only display the bell during the first 3 quarters of the USC-UCLA game and on the Monday following the game, when it is delivered to the winning school's campus. Then the Victory Bell, which gained its reputation from being hidden, goes back into hiding. [11]

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The Shillelagh

A jeweled shillelagh is passed between the annual winner of the USC-Notre Dame game, perhaps the finest intersectional rivalry in college football.

A shillelagh (pronounced "shuh-LAY-lee") is a Gaelic war club made of oak or blackthorn saplings from Ireland. Those are the only woods used because, it is said, they are the only ones tougher than an Irish skull.

The foot-long shillelagh has ruby-adorned Trojan heads with the year and game score representing USC victories, while emerald-studded shamrocks stand for Notre Dame wins. For tie games, a combined Trojan head/shamrock medallion is used. On the end of the club is engraved, "From the Emerald Isle." The victor of the Trojan-Irish game gains year-long possession of the trophy.

Upon its initial presentation in 1952 by the Notre Dame Alumni Club of Los Angeles, it was said that "this shillelagh will serve to symbolize in part the high tradition, the keen rivalry and above all the sincere respect which these two great universities have for each other."

The original shillelagh was flown from Ireland by Howard Hughes' pilot, according to legend. It was devised by the Notre Dame Alumni Club of Los Angeles, based on a suggestion by Vern Rickard. John Groen designed it. Although the shillelagh was introduced in 1952, the medallions go back to the start of the series in 1926.

When the original shillelagh ran out of space for the Trojan heads and shamrocks after the 1989 game, it was retired and is permanently displayed at Notre Dame.

A new shillelagh - slightly longer than the original - was commissioned by Jim Gillis, a former baseball player at both USC and Notre Dame and a one-time president of the Notre Dame Club of Los Angeles, and handcrafted in 1997 in County Leitrum, Ireland. It contains medallions beginning with the 1990 game.

There are now 42 shamrocks, 29 Trojan heads and 5 combined medallions on the shillelaghs. [12]


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Student Government

Image:USCSpringfest2005.JPGUSC annually elects members to Undergraduate Student Government, which is incorporated with the USC Student Affairs department. The Senate President and Vice-President are currently Jessica Lall and Chase Tajima, elected in the spring of 2005. Sam Gordon and Sahil Chaudry are expected to take on the duties of President and Vice-President on March 1, 2006.

Modeled after the United States government, the Student Senate consists of executive, legislative, and judicial branches, along with a programming branch (commonly referred to as "Program Board"). The executive branch consists of students appointed by the elected leadership and is charged with coordinating publications, events, and efforts to solve problems voiced by the student body. The legislative branch, the only branch fully elected by the students, represents the voice of the student body to university officials and legislates changes to some limited aspects of university policy. The judicial branch ensures that all operations within Student Senate are within the bounds of the organization's governing documentation.

The programming branch, referred to as "Program Board," aims to provide USC students with education and information through a multitude of social, political, and entertaining events. Assemblies and committees, in conjunction with elected and appointed Senate representatives, attempt to program these events in line with the desires of the paying student body. All Student Senate activities are funded by the student activity fee, which the Senate itself has some control over setting.

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Campus Renovations

The majority of USC undergraduates live on campus or in the North University Park area bounded by Vermont Avenue, Jefferson Boulevard, Figueroa Street, and Adams Boulevard. Public transportation connections to the university are plentiful and relatively cheap; nevertheless, the disdain held by many Angelenos for mass transit means that most students drive to school. On-campus parking structures rarely have spaces, and street parking is generally impossible. Moreover, the USC Parking Center, across the Harbor Freeway (I-110) from campus and connected to the campus by shuttle bus, is also frequently close to full. Construction of off-campus parking structures, including one at Jefferson Boulevard and Flower Street and another at Exposition Boulevard and Figueroa Street, is an integral component of the university's ambitious capital improvement campaign. The dormitories on campus have gone through sporadic renovations with such improvements as all rooms having direct university T3 access and card reader abilities. The entire campus itself underwent some renovations in the summer of 2001.

A new fountain was built in front of Leavey Library. A large area (formerly a parking lot, basketball courts, picnic area, and volleyball court) was converted into open land with walkways and scattered trees. This was in the vision of President Sample who wants to open up the campus and make it feel more 'free.' Sample also had building markers changed to more professional signs. In late 1998, USC cardinal bricks were placed in the crosswalks in the streets surrounding the university. Around this same time there were some minor improvements in University Village (the name for the area and shops surrounding USC). The University Village includes restaurants, a movie theater, an arcade, a salon, and a bank. The Doheny Library and Commons area also went under structural renovations. This was due in part to the 1994 Northridge earthquake which damaged the buildings. The renovations lasted several years. The USC track was also redone with new bleachers being installed and various aesthetic improvements. The USC entrance way adjacent to the registration and admissions building was drastically redesigned. Most of the changes have made the spotty city like architecture (a relic of the 70's and 80's) on campus evolve into more academic like architecture to allow for better contrast with the older buildings. Overall, the campus is changing and expanding. Soon, USC students will have many new buildings including the much anticipated Galen Center.

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Notable alumni, faculty, and students

See List of University of Southern California people

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Trivia

  • During the week prior to the traditional USC-UCLA rivalry football game, the Tommy Trojan statue is covered in duct tape, to prevent the spraypainting of UCLA colors on the statue, as was commonplace several decades ago.
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External links

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References

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