Dear Trojan students and families, Commencement is one of the most cherished ceremonies in a student’s academic life. It’s the single time when we come together as a community to celebrate years of hard work by our graduates. Unfortunately, COVID-19 kept USC and most other universities from offering in-person ceremonies last year. Today, I am…
Category: President
Messages from the President
March 11, 2021 Dear Trojan Community, It’s my pleasure to announce the appointment of Dr. Steven Shapiro to the newly created position of Senior Vice President for Health Affairs, effective May 15. In this new role, he will directly oversee Keck Medicine of USC and Keck School of Medicine (KSOM) with oversight of associated biomedical research programs.…
February 19, 2021 Dear Trojan students and families, I am writing to update you on Spring and Fall plans, but first let me take a moment to recognize the hardships that so many of you are experiencing due to frigid temperatures blanketing the country. Our thoughts are with our fellow Trojans, and we hope all…
Please join USC President Carol Folt, Provost Charles Zukoski, VP for Student Affairs Winston Crisp, members of the faculty and university health experts for a special webinar for students and parents focused on plans for the 2020 fall semester.
We were very pleased to learn that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security agreed to rescind its July 6 guidance. This would have, among other things, required our international students to take in-person classes in order to maintain their visa status.
Following last week’s government directive requiring international students to take at least one in-person class to maintain their visa status, USC immediately began reaching out to bring together some of the leading research institutions, liberal arts colleges, and public universities in the western United States to block the directive from being enforced. Today, our powerful coalition of 20 schools filed its own lawsuit against the federal government.
We are deeply troubled by the updated guidance that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released Monday requiring international students to take at least one in-person class to maintain their visa status. Given the broad range of courses being offered, both in person and online, we are optimistic we will be able to support our international students to study in person safely if they wish, but it may take a few days.
President Carol Folt, Vice President of Student Affairs Winston Crisp, and Provost Charles Zukoski invite USC students to a webinar on Monday, June 22 from 1-2:30 p.m. to discuss Project Restart and the return to campus.
President Folt shares some of the key Project Restart decisions that the university has made so far. While we still have many details to work out, we are planning for an in-person fall semester for students beginning on Aug. 17, 2020. This is a week earlier than originally scheduled.
President Carol Folt thanks faculty and staff for protecting our university, our students and our patients during this challenging time.