University of Southern California

Office of the President

C. L. Max Nikias

USC’s 11th president, C. L. Max Nikias is an accomplished scholar and innovator whose 21 years at USC have been characterized by vision and a talent for seeing and seizing opportunities. From his creation of a multimedia research center and his energetic tenure as dean of engineering, to the pacesetting initiatives he set in motion as USC’s provost, he has helped propel USC toward its goal of becoming one of the most productive and influential research universities in the world.
Read more about President Nikias

Schaeffer_Retouched
USC President C. L. Max Nikias, USC First Lady Niki C. Nikias, USC Roski School of Fine Arts Namesake Gayle Garner Roski, and USC Board of Trustees Chairman Edward P. Roski Jr.
nikias_bw
max

From the Office of the President

USC School of Cinematic Arts opens Interactive Media Building

Topics: News

USC Opens Interactive Media Building

Don Mattrick, president, Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft; USC President C. L. Max Nikias; Frank Price, chair of the Board of Councilors for the USC School of Cinematic Arts; USC Trustee Steven Spielberg; USC alumnus George Lucas; USC School of Cinematic Arts Dean Elizabeth Daley.

On June 12, 2013, three of the most influential thinkers in entertainment media, filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, came to the USC campus to discuss the entertainment landscape of the future tackled this question at an event hosted by the USC School of Cinematic Arts (SCA).

The media titans participated in a discussion before an audience of entertainment industry leaders to mark the official opening of the new SCA Interactive Media Building. The discussion was moderated by Julia Boorstin, CNBC media and entertainment reporter. CNBC will air excerpts of the event.

Read the complete article at USC News.

Commencement Remarks at Santa Monica College

Topics: News

Tsang and Nikias

Chui L. Tsang, superintendent and president of Santa Monica College, with the 2013 commencement speaker, USC President C. L. Max Nikias

President C. L. Max Nikias delivered a commencement address to the Class of 2013 of Santa Monica College on June 11, 2013. His remarks acknowledged the solemnity of the occasion, as students and faculty gathered in the wake of a tragic shooting during the previous week. “It is a mark of our times that milestones that are to be celebrated are so often  accompanied by sadness and uncertainty — sometimes on the other side of the world and sometimes in our own backyards and our own communities. These are the times that you have inherited,” Nikias said.

2013 Global Conference in Seoul, South Korea

Topics: News

C. L. Max Nikias and Yeon-Cheon Oh

USC President C. L. Max Nikias with Seoul National University President Yeon-Cheon Oh.

During the USC Global Conference in Seoul, USC leadership had the opportunity to hold meetings with several prominent members of the higher education and business sectors of Korea. President C. L. Max Nikias visited Seoul National University and met with the university’s president, Yeon-Cheon Oh. Seoul National University has a number of educational partnerships with USC in academic areas including engineering, business, and public policy.

President Nikias and Dean Yannis Yortsos of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering jointly signed an agreement formalizing a partnership—the Airbus Institute for Engineering Research (AIER)—between the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, aircraft manufacturer Airbus, Inha University and Korea Aerospace University (KAU).

The president of Inha University, Choonbae Park, signed the agreement along with KAU president, Junku Yuh, and Mr. Jean-Francois Laval, executive vice president, Asia for Airbus. Under the agreement, Airbus will provide funding to support the work of all three universities working together collaboration is to conduct joint research projects in aerospace engineering. USC Trustee Y. H. Cho, co-chair of the USC Global Conference (where the signing took place), presided over the event.

President Nikias and USC Marshall School of Business Dean James Ellis also connected with several prominent alumni—Mong-Won Chung, chairman and CEO of Halla Engineering & Construction Corp., (who is the current president of the USC Alumni Club of Seoul) and Seung-Yu Kim, former chairman of the Hana Financial Group, Inc. Both alumni are graduates of the USC Marshall School of Business.

The conference also provided a setting for USC Trustees and supporters to learn about recent developments in research by USC faculty, as well as forecasts into the fields of biomedicine, digital education, business and politics, arts, technology, and a wide array of other contemporary global issues. After the first day of panel sessions, USC Trustees and leadership had the opportunity to discuss the events of the conference at a private event attended by keynote speaker Arnold Schwarzenegger, held at the Seoul National Museum.

Presidential priorities

  • Transforming USC into a major hub of the emerging Age of the Pacific—by creating trans-Pacific alliances, by fully utilizing Los Angeles as a laboratory for trans-Pacific research, education and culture, and by building the foremost network of Pacific leaders.

  • Ensuring that the USC academic community serves as a key engine of intellectual, economic and cultural progress for the nation, and allowing its vast array of disciplines to be combined creatively in order to catalyze new knowledge and innovation.

  • Ensuring that USC promotes imagination and invention by creating a living and learning environment in which the university’s undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty are fluent in a wide variety of intellectual areas, ranging from classical literary works to the latest digital technologies.

  • Serving the neighborhoods around our two campuses through job creation and quality k-12 education. Further strengthening the legendary traditions of the Trojan Family.

  • Leading USC during the most ambitious fundraising campaign ever announced by an American university. This historic endeavor will raise $6 billion to support USC's faculty and students, as well as its academic priorities, capital projects, and essential infrastructure.