USC to launch record $6 billion campaign

PJ staff report | August 31, 2011

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University of Southern California

On Sept. 15, the University of Southern California will launch the largest capital campaign in the history of higher education.

The Los Angeles-based school aims to raise $6 billion over the next seven years to build its endowment and fund new capital projects.

With $1 billion already in hand, half the total raised will be used to support students and faculty, including generating more undergraduate scholarships and endowing graduate fellowships.

The remaining funds will be targeted to capital and infrastructure projects, including new residential colleges for undergraduates; boosting arts and humanities offerings; and strengthening the schools' focus on the intersection of communication and technology.

"We fervently believe that now is the time for an effort that will once again accelerate our academic ascent," C.L. Max Nikias, president of the university says in a statement. "The path is steep, but we have the vision, we have the momentum and we have the determination. Our success will not only shape our future but will enrich our region, state, nation and world."

In response to a $200 million donation in unrestricted endowment funds, its largest gift ever, the school will rename its College of Letters, Arts and Sciences in honor of alum and trustee David Dornsife and his wife, Dana.

A gift of $150 million from the W.M. Keck Foundation will be used to bolster medical, clinical and translational research and education at the university's medical school, which will be renamed Keck Medicine of USC.

And $110 million from alum and trustee John Mork and his wife, Julie, will be used to create the Mork Family Scholars program, which will provide merit scholarships and stipends.

"The Campaign for the University of Southern California is an extraordinary opportunity to accelerate the progress of one of the world's great research universities, not by small steps but by leaps and bounds," Al Checcio, the university's senior vice president for university advancement, says in a statement.

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