June 30, 2025
Dear Trojan Family and Friends,
I have been thinking about you a lot as I complete my transition from president of USC to faculty member. It has been an honor to work with you over the last six years.
You have taught me so much – about the joy and love of our Trojan family, our creativity and impactful discoveries, dedication to community service, saving lives, commitment to truth and trust, and about giving back.
Our business acumen, ambition, and determination to shape a secure and sustainable future – and the global reach of our 500,000 alumni, are legendary. It is a privilege to be a Trojan.
Over the past six years, we’ve faced serious challenges. We have had to navigate our own missteps, lawsuits, a global pandemic, and federal investigations. We now face financial losses in support for research and students along with other economic headwinds. The various, often conflicting narratives portraying universities as obstacles to national leadership and insensitive to local needs, neighbors, students, faculty, or alumni, have never been louder. But our commitment to USC’s mission and values has not wavered.
We have made huge contributions in science, technology, and the arts. We have been at the forefront of change in college athletics, the development of new disciplines, and the essential transformations of professions with the advent of AI. Together, all of us have restored USC’s reputation, strengthened our leadership among American universities, and ignited our community’s aspirations for even greater moonshots and achievements ahead.
The mission of America’s universities to aspire, build, debate, and create a better world, is the foundation upon which civilization, democracy, and opportunity is built. Our campuses can be tumultuous at times, but that comes with the energy and drive of our communities. At USC, our debates are as fundamental to our advances and freedoms, as our teamwork is to our achievements and global impact. Our will to improve and learn drives our success. Our Trojan community – spanning cultures, ages, and dreams – brings a dynamism, excitement, and creative spirit to USC that has made Southern California and America flourish for decades.
Looking ahead, I am confident in USC’s capacity – in your capacity – to extend our special mission in important ways. You’ll pursue excellence, remain open-minded, big-hearted, pragmatic, and thoughtful. You’ll change when needed. You’ll seize opportunity; drive cutting-edge discoveries, technologies, and medical treatments; and create joy and excitement with the arts. You’ll win championships and excel at storytelling. You’ll inspire our students to embrace life’s changes with courage and help them become leaders and innovators in all fields. That is what we Trojans do.
Our commencement last month at the historic Coliseum celebrated our passion and conviction, bringing tears to many. The collective roar of the crowd, upon the lighting of the Olympic torch in honor of our graduates, was a moment of harmony I will always treasure.
I am grateful for the opportunities I’ve had and the people I’ve met. Our students are the beating heart of the Trojan family. You carry forward, each year, Trojan traditions of excellence, purpose, and family – that you’ve learned in our classrooms, labs, hospitals, studios, stages, boardrooms, athletic fields, and more. I look forward with pleasure to working again with students, collaborating with my faculty colleagues, and finding other ways to help higher education meet the waves of change ahead.
Special thanks to our staff. You keep our great university running smoothly and safely, overcoming obstacles with grace and patience. To our faculty, clinicians, coaches, and other educators, you push boundaries, inspire our students to take risks and find endless possibilities, and create knowledge upon which our future depends. To our alumni, lifelong and worldwide, thank you for your generosity and for Fighting On every day. You are inspiring role models for our students to emulate and always offer a helping hand.
To our Board of Trustees, thank you for your resolute advocacy of our mission across decades of cultural, political, and economic change – and for your trust in me. To my team of senior administrators, thank you for managing the enormous complexity of our organization, across all our schools and hospitals, with empathy, integrity, and purpose. Your efforts may go unsung – because when you are doing your best work, it is often seamless – but you are always top of mind.
And finally, to our students – thank you for being you. You are the warm, funny, passionate, brilliant, and magnificent spirit of USC, and you will drive the future the world needs. I have no doubt you’ll be ready when the time comes, and in the meantime, you’ll keep us all on our toes!
I am excited to see what the future holds for each of us. I have full confidence that the incoming team of leaders under Interim President Beong-Soo Kim will elevate our Trojan family in new and exciting ways. When we next meet – at a game, a play, crossing campus, in one of my classes (😊), or anywhere else – I’ll be as inspired as ever by all you are doing.
With affection, and respect, Fight On!
Yours,
Carol L. Folt
President
Robert C. Packard President’s Chair