trojan family magazine autumn 2011
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USC Trojan Family Magazine Autumn 2011TRANSCRIPT
USCT R O J A N FA M I LY
A U T U M N 2 0 1 1 | T F M . U S C . E D U
U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H E R N C A L I F O R N I A
Also in this issue:Little Caesar vs. the McCarthyites: rethinking Hollywood and politics
page 16
USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies invents play with
purpose page 18
Surgical strike: Keck doctors pioneer minimally invasive
techniques page 22
Fas Regna TrojaeUSC’s historic $6 billion campaign – the most ambitious in the history of higher education – heralds ‘the destined reign of Troy’
Fas Regna TrojaeUSC’s historic $6 billion campaign – the most ambitious in the history of higher education – heralds ‘the destined reign of Troy’ PAGE 11
The race isn’t over
until there’s a cure.
Last year, 32,000 men died from
prostate cancer and more than
217,000 new cases were diagnosed.
Today, 2.2 million live with the disease.
Your contribution supports our race toward
a cure for prostate cancer.
Register to run in the L.A. Prostate Cancer 5K at
Active.com or USCUrology.com or call (323) 865-3700
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 6, 2011
Fight On.
[ DEPARTMENTS ]
04 Mail Bag Readers give us a piece of their minds.
07 Trojan Beat
Thinking globally, lab work, shelf life and more
35 Family Ties
Connecting Trojans worldwide
40 Class Notes
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 1
[ FEATURES ]
Fas Regna TrojaeThe Destined Reign of Troy
USC launches the most ambitious campaign in the history of higher education.
Politics and HollywoodBy Steven J. Ross
Movie legend Edward G. Robinson mobilized the Hollywood community toward political activism.
Brave New WorldBy Orli Belman
Virtual reality is the new reality at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies.
Healing the HealerBy Mary Ellen Zenka
Minimally invasive colorectal surgery lets veterinarian Nicole Knapp return to her passion for healing animals.
[ COLUMNS ]
02 Editor’s Note The Trojan Family’s generosity is boundless.
03 President’s Page
Moving forward with passion and purpose to support USC
48 Last Word
Money makes the world go round. Test your knowledge on monetary minutiae.
inside
12 16 22 30
On the cover: “Tommy Trojan,” sculpted by Roger Noble Burnham in 1930, remains one of USC’s most recognizable figures. Photo by Philip Channing
PH
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2 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
EDITOR
Nicole M. Malec
SENIOR EDITORS
Lauren Clark
Diane Krieger
ART DIRECTOR
Sheharazad P. Fleming
MANAGING EDITOR
Mary Modina
CONTRIBUTORS
Susan Andrews, Orli Belman,
Anne Bergman, Cheryl Bruyninckx,
Cheryl Collier, Beth Dunham,
Pamela J. Johnson, Timothy O. Knight,
Matthew Kredell, Ross M. Levine,
Steve Linan, Sam Lopez, Carl Marziali,
Eddie North-Hager, Jan Peterson,
Sara Reeve, Julie Riggott,
Steven J. Ross, Darren Schenck,
Liz Segal, Shirley S. Shin,
Ambrosia Viramontes-Brody,
Mary Ellen Zenka
DESIGN AND PRODUCTION
Russell Ono
Stacey Torii
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Mary Modina | (213) 740-8622
CIRCULATION MANAGER
Vickie Kebler
USC Trojan Family Magazine
3375 S. Hoover St., Ste. H201
Los Angeles, CA 90089-7790
[email protected] | tfm.usc.edu
USC Trojan Family Magazine (ISSN 8750-
7927) is published four times a year, in
March, June, September and December,
by USC University Communications.
MOVING? Submit your updated mailing
address at tfm.usc.edu/subscribe
USCTROJAN FAMILY
editor’s note
Pillars of Excellence
EXPLORE USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE
ONLINE AT tfm.usc.edu››
The quarterly magazine of the
University of Southern California
THE TROJAN FAMILY’S GENEROSITY is astounding. In just the past year, despite a diffi cult
economic climate in California and across the nation, USC received gifts totaling more
than $1 billion for its educational and research missions. Our donors saw enduring value
in supporting our students and faculty, our programs, and our desire and potential to effect
positive change.
Beyond gifts, so many of you also gave your time to organize events, welcome new stu-
dents and spread the word about USC. It’s this infectious affi nity Trojans have for USC
that gives us the unbridled confi dence that we can raise $6 billion to support the continued
ascent of this great university. The collective spirit of the Trojan Family is an intangible as-
set that is impossible to measure – yet it is so clearly one of the most valuable features of our
community. We hope that, as the campaign progresses, each of you will be engaged in the
journey and will be proud of the Trojan Family’s impact both in our nearest neighborhoods
and around the world.
N i c o l e M . M a l e c A S S O C I A T E S E N I O R V P
U S C C O M M U N I C A T I O N S
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 3
BY C. L. MAX NIKIAS
As we begin a fresh academic year and celebrate the launch of our ambitious fundraising campaign, I want to open this column with some words of gratitude to each of you, the members of the Trojan Family. This past year, we collectively raised more than $1 billion for USC!
This total includes three historic gifts – $200 million
from Dana and David Dornsife, $150 million from
the W. M. Keck Foundation and $110 million from
Julie and John Mork – as well as heartfelt annual
fund donations from our undergraduates. Each gift
made a difference. Each one of you made a differ-
ence. And today, I sincerely say thank you.
While we’ve achieved a great deal, there is
much more to do, as we march toward our lofty
$6 billion goal. Let us move forward with pas-
sion, but also with purpose. And most of all, let
us be mindful of why we
are supporting our beloved
university. Our campaign
will focus signifi cantly
on strengthening USC’s
endowment, which will
ensure our long-term fi -
nancial stability and stra-
tegic growth. A portion
of these funds will un-
derwrite capital projects,
infrastructure and aca-
demic priorities, while
another portion will
support our faculty and
students. These funds
will allow us to compete for the most brilliant fac-
ulty and the most talented students, while helping
us ensure that their time at USC is maximized,
that their scholarship or creative work reaches so-
ciety and that the impact of their contributions is
fully realized.
We’ve already made tremendous headway on
these fronts. Earlier this year, we welcomed No-
bel Prize-winning economist Daniel McFadden
to our campuses. He is known around the world
for his innovations in economics and mathemat-
ics related to models of learning and choice, and
he holds the prestigious title of Presidential Pro-
fessor of Health Economics. (Along with Distin-
guished Professor George Olah and Presidential
Professor Murray Gell-Mann, he raises USC’s
count of Nobel laureates to three!) But profes-
sor McFadden brings more than a vast garland of
credentials to USC. His work is transformative:
His scholarship has fundamentally altered the
way academics examine choice modeling, as well
as how companies track and predict consumer
decision-making and behavior. He is an intellec-
tual tour de force.
The same holds true for our students. Last
month, our very fi rst group of Mork Schol-
ars arrived at the university. These 20 inspir-
ing individuals hail from 15 different states and
bring a breadth of experiences. Consider John
Humphries, from Charlotte, N.C., who will ma-
jor in chemistry. I could tell you that he gradu-
ated top of his class, interned for federal Judge
Frank Whitney, competed in a dozen triathlons
and scored astronomically high on his standard-
ized tests. But you’ve come to expect such feats
of USC’s students. So I’ll tell you that over the
past seven years, he and his sister raised more
than $15,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation,
having turned their own birthday parties into
fundraisers for the organization. John said he
drew inspiration from a young girl named Hope
Stout, who wished for the wishes of all the other
children in the program – instead of asking for a
wish of her own.
In one year, an additional cohort of Mork
Scholars will arrive on our campuses, which means
in four years’ time, we will have a total of about 80
at USC. Our inaugural group will graduate, but
the intellectual, creative and social experiences
they have at USC will remain with them, forming
the foundation on which they build their profes-
sional lives. In this way, their successes will be
part of USC’s successes. Their contributions will
be part of USC’s legacy.
This is what inspires me. This promise – this
dedication to our collective future and to giving
back to our society – motivates my personal com-
mitment to this campaign. I look forward to the
years ahead, and I warmly extend my hand to
each one of you: Please join me on this journey!
These are pivotal years in USC’s glorious his-
tory, and together we can alter the course of our
university, our community and even our nation.
If we are steadfast, focused and thoughtful – and
we will be! – then I am confi dent USC will soon
assume its place among the pantheon of undis-
puted elite universities. ●
Julie and John Mork with USC president C. L. Max Nikias
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president’s page
Your appointment of this man to dean
of religious life is disturbing to me. Our
culture in this country is predominantly
Christian, but with total freedom to prac-
tice any religion one cares to. Students
from other countries should taste our cul-
ture and spirituality, just as we would if we
went to India or China. The fact that he
is the only non-Christian university dean
of religious life in America shows how far
off-base this is.
Lloyd O. Johnson ’51H A Y D E N L A K E , I D
After reading the article on Varun Soni,
my sense of logic and defi nition of truth
was left severely wanting. My observa-
tion is that an un-chaplain is a contradic-
tion in terms wrapped in a paradox. If the
job description of a chaplain boils down
to counseling others, what, in fact, does
an un-chaplain do? Soni seems like he’s a
fi ne academic and an entrepreneurial type
of guy, but there’s no discussion of conse-
quence in the article of persons he’s helped
and changes he’s helped them achieve in
their lives. Seems like he may be missing
what it takes to be a chaplain.
Dennis Purpura ’70, MBA ’71D A N V I L L E , C A
In the article on Varun Soni, there is a sen-
tence so uneducated and preposterous that
it can’t be allowed to go unchallenged in
an academic publication: “However, ques-
tions of spiritual meaning and religious faith
rarely come up in the classroom, nor should
they in a secular research university.” They
don’t? They shouldn’t? How do you study
anything in the humanities, arts, even the
sciences, without dealing with spiritual
meaning? Dante? Milton? Darwin? Michel-
angelo? Beethoven? The Beatles? The Mid-
dle East on the front page of newspapers? If
this notion is true, then USC’s “education”
is a waste of time and money.
Thomas E. Mille ’81 A P P L E V A L L E Y , C A
TFM RedesignedI am thoroughly impressed with the online
magazine. I’ve seen versions that attempt to
duplicate the look and feel of a print maga-
zine, which seems so forced. But this online
format (which I’m reading on a computer,
not even a phone or iPad) feels fresh and for-
ward-thinking. Great redesign – it’s a tough
job, but you did it. Well done, USC!
Irene Mason ’06 L O S A N G E L E S , C A
I love the article on Varun Soni (“The Un-Chaplain,” Summer 2011, p. 18). It’s an example
of my favorite type of profi le piece – extremely positive, well researched, lots of voices, and
it shows many sides of the individual. I was a full-time reporter for several years and con-
tinue to write on a freelance basis. It’s great to see stories like this at USC.
Laura SturzaG R A D U A T E A D V I S E R
H E R M A N O S T R O W S C H O O L O F D E N T I S T R Y O F U S C
C A M P U S
mailbag
4 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
The Spirituality of Troy
WE WELCOME YOUR FEEDBACK.
SUBMIT YOUR LETTER TO THE
EDITOR AT tfm.usc.edu/mailbag››
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NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 5
Apparently, nobody at USC Trojan Family Magazine paid attention to the recent Gap
logo-redesign epic fail. Nor did they consult
with the USC Roski School of Fine Arts,
the USC Graphic Identity Program or any
freshman graphic design major.
Quite simply, the new font is about the
worst choice that could have been made,
with neither any sense of historical con-
nection to the university nor perspective
beyond a fi ve-year window.
Everybody knows that sans-serif fonts
are all the rage at the moment (just look
at the Facebook, Twitter and Bing logos).
They are terrible choices for a 130-year-old
university and will look dated (“oh, that
late 2010 look”) very fast.
Lansing McLoskey MM ’92M I A M I , F L
Art FactsI loved the photos in “Unexpected Trea-
sures” (Summer 2011, p. 16), particu-
larly the 1931 El Rodeo. I’m a fan of early
fl ight Art Deco
pieces and was
surprised to see
such art in the
El Rodeo. I’d
love to fi nd out
more about the
artist who illustrated the airplane motif.
Lee Anne Fisher Masten ’94 T H E B E R K S H I R E S , M A
USC historian Annette Moore replies: The 1931 El Rodeo would be a treat for any fan of early fl ight art. It features Art Deco-style images with an aviation theme throughout, including a Trojan horse with wings and several scenes with airplanes fl ying in the sky. All told, there are some six color illustrations, in addition to the frontispiece, credited to artists George Spielman and Ray Conners.
Being BozoI loved your missive on my all-time favorite
client Larry “Bozo the Clown” Harmon ’50
(Summer 2011, p. 32). He was anything but
a bozo. He was warm, funny and charming.
Most people do not know he also owned the
rights to Laurel and Hardy and portrayed
Stan Laurel on some commercials. He
loved USC and truly loved bringing smiles
to the faces of his audience. From one bozo
to another, R.I.P. Larry. I miss you.
Dale S. Gribow ’65 P A L M D E S E R T, C A
Short NoticeI was disappointed when I turned to the
obituary pages in the latest issue of the
magazine (Summer 2011, p. 50). They are
the fi rst thing I turn to, to read about old
friends and fellow colleagues. I was dis-
mayed by the abbreviated version.
Dorothy A. Morris MA ’79 H O N O L U L U , H I
Editor’s Note: Full obituaries of Trojan Fam-ily members can be found in the online edition at tfm.usc.edu/memoriam
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Global Challenges and Enhancing OpportunitiesFeaturing New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winning author
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Thursday, October 13–Saturday, October 15, 2011JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong
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Sponsorship opportunities still available
LAB WORK
His Stress, Her Stress
When it comes to housework, shared relaxation
eludes the average couple.
IT’S THE CLASSIC grievance in the war
between the sexes: she doesn’t keep the
house neat enough; he never helps out. Only
now, there’s biochemical data to back it up.
A USC study published in the Journal of
Family Psychology found that it isn’t enough
for couples to relax together for their stress
levels to fall at the end of the day. Men fi nd
it easier to unwind if their wives are still
busy with chores. Women prefer hands-on
help: their stress levels go down if their hus-
bands chip in with housework.
This isn’t a promising formula of marital
bliss. “Your biological adaptation to stress
looks healthier when your partner has to
suffer the consequences – more house-
work for husbands, less leisure for wives,”
explains psychologist Darby Saxbe, a post-
doctoral fellow at the USC Dornsife Col-
lege of Letters, Arts and Sciences and lead
author of the study, which received national
media attention.
For both husbands and wives, the
research showed, doing more housework
kept cortisol levels higher at the end of the
day – in other words, doing chores seemed
to limit their ability to recover from work-
related stress.
For wives, cortisol profi les were healthier
if their husbands did chores alongside them
in the home. Alternately for husbands, lei-
sure was linked to healthier cortisol levels
– but only if their wives kept busy with
chores.
The study measured stress hormones
and daily activities among 30 Los Angeles
couples who worked full-time and had at
least one child. The researchers tracked the
families’ activities at 10-minute intervals
and sampled their saliva repeatedly over
three days.
The saliva samples then were analyzed
for cortisol, a hormone that increases in
stressful situations. Saxbe and her col-
leagues focused on the drop in cortisol
after the end of the workday. A steeper drop
is considered healthier. The study found
there was a link between household activi-
ties and physiology. In particular, the way
couples divvy up chores affects the body’s
adaptation to stress.
The result shows that the actions of one
spouse can affect the stress levels of the
partner and “have real implications for long-
term health,” Saxbe says. Cortisol levels
can affect sleep, weight gain, burnout and
weakened immune resistance.
Saxbe conducted much of the research
while writing her thesis at UCLA’s Center
on the Everyday Lives of Families with
co-authors Rena Repetti of UCLA and
Anthony Graesch of Connecticut College.
One of Saxbe’s earlier studies had fo-
cused on marital relationships, stress and
work. Her research found that more hap-
pily married women showed healthier cor-
tisol patterns, while women who reported
marital dissatisfaction had fl atter cortisol
profi les, which have been associated with
chronic stress. Men’s marital satisfaction
ratings, on the other hand, were not con-
nected to their cortisol patterns.
“The quality of relationships makes a
big difference in a person’s health,” Saxbe
says. “Dividing up your housework fairly
with your partner may be as important as
eating your vegetables.”
E D D I E N O R T H - H A G E R
trojan beat
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 7
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for posterity – much as Charles
Marville documented Paris
from 1858 to 1877.
The work was unconven-
tional, but Krieger – who has
eight books to his credit – had
enough seniority to take risks.
Along the way, photo docu-
mentation became a passion.
“I’m an extremely happy man
when I can go out and do fi eld-
work,” Krieger says. “In my
career, I’ve spent most of my
time in my offi ce, thinking and reading and
writing.”
Krieger continues to take photographs
and record sounds. He’s currently focus-
ing on the Orthodox Jewish enclave in the
Pico-Robertson area of West Los Angeles.
This work eventually may lead to another
book, although it’s the joy he receives from
documenting the ever-changing cityscape
that keeps him going.
“I do all the work and then the book
comes as the last part,” Krieger says. “You
put enough ingredients in the mix and then
it’s like, ‘Oh, I can make a cake.’ ”
M A T T H E W K R E D E L L
THREE YEARS AGO, during a routine echo-
cardiogram, Martin Krieger gazed at some
30 images of his heart, taken from all dif-
ferent angles, and had an epiphany. Medi-
cal tomography – the imaging of multiple
slices of an organ – was the perfect meta-
phor, he realized, for the amorphous L.A.
documentation project he had been en-
gaged in since 1997.
“I thought, that’s exactly what I’m do-
ing – taking multiple pictures of the city
from different angles and perspectives,”
says Krieger, a professor of planning at the
USC School of Policy, Planning, and Devel-
opment. “I could fi nally make sense of my
projects.”
The result is Urban Tomographies (Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania Press, $49.95), which
explores the concept of tomography as ap-
plied to photo documentation. The strik-
ing cover displays many of the 800-plus
pictures he took of the facades of storefront
houses of worship. Other images in his ar-
chive include markets, streetscapes, every
Department of Water and Power station in
the city (around 150), workers at more than
240 work sites and many other slices of L.A.
urban life.
With the help of USC School of Cin-
ematic Arts professor Tomlinson Holman,
who developed the THX sound quality-as-
surance system for Lucasfi lm, Krieger also
recorded the ambient sounds of Los Ange-
les – from the calls of a tamale vendor to the
buzz of a workshop saw. Many of Krieger’s
photographs and sounds – he snapped tens
of thousands of pictures and made hun-
dreds of surround-sound recordings and
smartphone videos – can be experienced at
tomography.usc.edu/urban
Krieger’s interest in photo documenta-
tion grew out of a fascination with the dis-
tinctive architecture of Iranian-American
immigrant homes in Beverly Hills (the so-
called “Persian palaces”), which he regu-
larly passed on the way to pick up his son
from school.
According to Krieger, everyday life leads
to new subjects. When he started riding the
bus to USC, he discovered another world to
systematically and exhaustively photograph.
“I’m not an artist,” he explains. “I don’t
worry if the photos are great. I just want to
have lots of detail and information that is
clearly visible.”
Krieger had not originally planned to
produce a book at all. He merely wished to
document what was going on in Los Ange-
les, with the vague idea of leaving an archive
THIS URBAN LIFE
Slices of
Southland Life
Urban scholar ‘images’
Los Angeles like a
radiologist.
The Art of Arts ReportingWhat if you threw a bunch of skilled journalists at a subject and
asked them to invent creative ways of reporting it? That was the
intriguing premise behind Engine28, an arts journalism program
that debuted this summer at the USC Annenberg School for
Communication & Journalism.
For one week in June, reporters from 28 media outlets across the
country formed a “pop-up” newsroom to provide extensive coverage of
theatre in Los Angeles. The journalists produced reviews, analyses, forums, podcasts and videos
around three coinciding theatre festivals and conferences – the RADAR L.A. Festival, the 2011
Theatre Communications Group National Conference and the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Twenty-one reporters and critics – all fellows in USC Annenberg’s seventh National Endow-
ment for the Arts (NEA) Arts Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater – worked
alongside a staff of top editors led by Jeff Weinstein, former arts editor and columnist for The
Philadelphia Inquirer and The Village Voice.
“Rather than simply talk about new models for arts journalism at this year’s NEA Arts Journal-
ism Institute, we decided to create some,” says Douglas McLennan, digital editor and chief
architect for Engine28.com. “Engine28 was a real-time laboratory for journalism about the arts.”
And a crucial laboratory at that, Weinstein says, “because arts journalism – a dull phrase –
is in trouble and needs muscular innovation as well as solid traditional talent to survive.”
To see what the experiment yielded, visit Engine28.com �
8 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
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THINKING GLOBALLY
Cross-Continental Show and Tell
A USC surgical team demonstrates robotic and
laparoscopic techniques before 1,800 Chinese urologists.
IN 12 DAYS, they visited fi ve cities – Shang-
hai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and
Singapore. This was no whirlwind tour of
Asia, though. It was a teaching blitz by sur-
geons in USC’s Institute of Urology.
Led by Inderbir Gill, founding executive
director of the institute, the team included
urology professors Mihir Desai and Hui-
Wen Xie, and urology fellow Casey Ng. To-
gether, they offered a series of live-surgery
symposia this past spring.
More than 1,800 Chinese urologists at-
tended these symposia to watch the USC
team perform 15 advanced robotic and lap-
aroscopic surgeries for kidney, prostate and
bladder diseases.
“The goal of this trip was to create a
USC-China Program in clinical medicine,
which will enhance academic exchanges
and make USC a preferred destination for
Chinese patients seeking cutting-edge
medical and surgical treatment,”
says Gill, who is professor and
chair of the Catherine and Joseph
Aresty Department of Urology
at the Keck School of Medicine
of USC.
In addition to demonstrating
their surgical techniques, Gill,
Desai and Xie delivered state-of-
the-art lectures and disseminated
Institute of Urology brochures
and physician business cards that
had been translated into Chinese.
Several Chinese dignitaries at-
tended the symposia, including
the director of the Beijing Mu-
nicipal Health Bureau, dean of
the Beijing Medical University,
dean of The Chinese University
of Hong Kong, president and vice
president of the Chinese Urologi-
cal Association, president of the
Chinese Military Hospitals As-
sociation and more than 40 chair-
men of various urology depart-
ments across China, Hong Kong
and Singapore.
The USC urologists also met with the
U.S. consul general in Guangzhou, of-
fi cials of the USC-Hong Kong offi ce and
the CEOs of seven health care and insur-
ance companies. One health care company
submitted a contract to the institute, which
already has generated patient referrals.
The USC Institute of Urology has been
working on a USC-China collaboration for
the past decade. Since 1998, more than 50
Chinese urologists have visited USC every
year for a week-long instructional sympo-
sium to observe live surgeries and learn
new techniques.
Future collaboration possibilities are be-
ing explored, including teleconsults and
e-consults, remote health monitoring, pa-
tient referrals to USC for advanced medical
care and stronger relationship-building with
Chinese physicians.
C H E R Y L B R U Y N I N C K X
world watch
�USC in Mumbai USC’s Office of Global Initiatives opened a
new international office in Mumbai to pro-
mote academic and research partnerships,
expand opportunities for student service-
based learning in India and help attract top
Indian students to USC. The Mumbai office,
which is led by Kamaldeep Chadha ‘89, MBT
‘98, joins an international office in Bangalore
that recently was opened by the USC Viterbi
School of Engineering.
�Legal Lifeline USC Gould School of Law established a chap-
ter of the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project,
an organization that teams law students with
pro bono attorneys to provide representation
to Iraqi refugees seeking resettlement in the
United States. Spearheaded by USC under-
graduates Ali Al-Sarraf and Jared Irmas, the
USC chapter has already recruited 40 student
volunteers and partnered with eight attorneys
from the Los Angeles offices of O’Melveny &
Myers and Gibson Dunn.
�Gone to Ghana Eight undergraduates from a variety of
majors traveled to West Africa this summer
as the first participants in the Summer
Research Fellowship to Ghana, a new pro-
gram sponsored by the USC Dornsife College
of Letters, Arts and Sciences. For five weeks,
they investigated agriculture, education and
sustainable development. Among their
accomplishments: producing a needs assess-
ment to help local farmers build a demonstra-
tion farm and researching how monoculture
– the agricultural practice of growing one
crop over a wide area – affects farmers in
Ghana for better or worse.
�Global Consultation Hoping to beef up entrepreneurship in the
low-income community of Kumba, Cameroon
in Africa, USC Marshall School of Business
professors Sriram Dasu and Yehuda Bassok
turned to their MBA students. A team of six
students worked with Kumba’s mayor and
city council to analyze viable markets for local
resources and identify products that could
be made by local entrepreneurs. Organizers
hope to replicate the process and make this
type of global consulting work a staple of USC
Marshall’s outreach efforts. ●
Inderbir Gill
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 9
PH
OT
O B
Y D
ON
MIL
ICI
SHELF L IFE
Sign of Fantasy
As American icons go, the
Hollywood Sign is worthy
of a book. USC culture
scholar Leo Braudy obliges.
WITH ITS NINE WHITE steel-and-concrete let-
ters standing 30-feet wide and 45-feet tall,
the Hollywood Sign is one of the most rec-
ognized symbols in the world, yet it remains
an enigma.
Consider these ironies: rather than a sym-
bol or image, it is a word. And though easy
to see, it is quite diffi cult to visit or touch.
Captivated by these and many other con-
tradictions, USC culture scholar, historian
and fi lm critic Leo Braudy set about writing
a thoughtful book dissecting them all. The
result is The Hollywood Sign: Fantasy and Re-
ality of an American Icon, part of the “Icons
of America” series of scholarly works by Yale
University Press.
Viewing the sign for the fi rst time is of-
ten a disappointment, especially if one has
conjured up a symbol of grandeur, glitz and
glamour, says Braudy, who is a University
Professor and holder of the Leo S. Bing
Chair in English and American Literature
at the USC Dornsife College of Letters,
Arts and Sciences. But then much about
Tinseltown lore is that way. The fabled
intersection of Hollywood and Vine – where
people fl ock from around the world – turns
out to be a cluster of nondescript buildings.
Braudy calls this let-down the clash be-
tween fantasy and reality.
He lovingly retraces a history riddled
with irony and let-downs. The original sign,
which read “Hollywoodland,” was con-
structed in 1923 by a real estate developer.
It perched atop Mount Lee, lit by 4,000
bulbs. Through the years the sign fell into
disrepair – it “has endured almost as many
deaths, near-deaths and revivals as Kenny
in South Park,” quipped Braudy in a May
2010 Los Angeles Times op-ed.
In 1949, the Hollywood Chamber of
Commerce contracted
with the L.A. Parks De-
partment to renovate it.
The “land” portion of
the sign was removed,
and its symbolic im-
portance to the city
cemented. In 1978, a
full-scale reconstruction
was undertaken, spear-
headed by the unlikely
duo of adult entertain-
ment mogul Hugh Hef-
ner and heavy metal
rocker Alice Cooper.
The “new” sign was 5
feet shorter than the original but still gran-
diose and a lot more stable.
Even today, its fate is uncertain. A cou-
ple of years ago, 138 acres above and to the
left of the sign were put on the market for
$22 million. If used for housing, the sale
could materially have altered the view of
the sign.
A group calling itself The Trust for
Public Land raised $9 million to purchase
the land and save the view for posterity.
The option to buy, however, was set at
$12.5 million by the Chicago-based com-
mercial developer that has owned the prop-
erty since 2002. The city held its breath,
hoping for a Hollywood ending. That hope
did not prove in vain: The iconic sign was
rescued yet again by a last-minute donation
of $900,000 from Hefner and matching
grants from the Tiffany & Co. Foundation,
Aileen Getty and thousands of individuals,
famous and not. Among the famous: Steven
Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
S U S A N A N D R E W S
�EducatorCarol Campbell Fox
MS ’62, an independent
consultant and outgo-
ing president of the USC
Alumni Association, was
elected to the USC Board
of Trustees. Fox has
taught professionally at
several Southern Califor-
nia universities, including
USC, and has coordi-
nated an innovative teacher-training program
for UCLA Education Extension. Past president
of Town and Gown and the Trojan Guild of Los
Angeles, Fox was the 2006 winner of the USC
Alumni Service Award.
�Administrator Tom Sayles was named
senior vice president for
USC University Relations.
Previously he was vice
president for USC Govern-
ment and Civic Engage-
ment. Before joining USC
in 2009, Sayles was senior
vice president for govern-
ment affairs and corpo-
rate communications at
Rentech Inc., an alternative fuels company in Los
Angeles. He also served as the State of Califor-
nia’s commissioner of corporations and, before
that, as state secretary of business, transporta-
tion and housing. Sayles holds degrees from
Harvard Law School and Stanford University.
�Dean Longtime faculty mem-
ber William W. Holder
was named dean of the
USC Leventhal School of
Accounting, a unit of the
USC Marshall School of
Business. An expert on
financial reporting and
auditing, Holder came
to USC in 1979 and has
directed the USC SEC and Financial Reporting
Institute since 1994. He holds a doctorate
in business administration and a master
of accountancy, both from the University of
Oklahoma. ●
The Hollywood Sign: Fantasy
and Reality of an American Icon
by Leo BraudyYALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, $24
milestones
10 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
BR
AU
DY
PH
OT
O B
Y M
IRA
ZIM
ET
; F
OX
AN
D S
AY
LE
S P
HO
TO
S B
Y S
TE
VE
CO
HN
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Six billion dollars. That’s the figure President C. L. Max Nikias
vowed USC will raise in the comprehensive
campaign that launched on Sept. 15. ¶ It’s
the most ambitious campaign in history – not
just Trojan history, but the history of American
higher education. ¶ Why such an extraordinary
sum? Because, says Nikias, it’s what USC must
do if it is to reach the pinnacle of excellence
in its academic ascent – what the president
calls “undisputed elite status.” And according
to Nikias, the campaign will ensure that USC’s
contributions to society will be fully realized.
¶ “These things are not only possible; they’re
within our grasp. They’re right here for the
taking. They’re just a few steps down the
road,” he says.
Fas RegnaTrojaeThe destined reign of Troy
[ A WILL TOWARD GREATNESS ]
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 13
USC’s historic $6 billion campaign - perhaps the most ambitious in the history of higher education - heralds the ‘destined reign of Troy.’USC’s historic $6 billion campaign – the most
ambitious in the history of higher education –
heralds the ‘destined reign of Troy.’
THE STAGE FOR THE CAMPAIGN for the
University of Southern California was set at
Nikias’ inauguration, when he pledged an
all-out effort to expand and strengthen USC
at an unprecedented rate and in a short pe-
riod of time. Within a few minutes of the
new president’s formal investiture on Oct. 15,
2010, the university announced two separate
gifts of $50 million: one from USC trustee
Ming Hsieh ’83, MS ’84 to establish an inter-
disciplinary cancer research institute bringing
together engineers, scientists and physicians;
another from USC trustee Wallis Annenberg
and the Annenberg Foundation to fi nance a
new building for the USC Annenberg School
for Communication & Journalism.
Since then, four additional donors have
made leadership commitments to USC: in
March, Dana and David Dornsife ’65 gave
$200 million (the largest single gift in USC’s
history) to name the USC College of Letters,
Arts and Sciences; in April, Julie and John
Mork ’70 gave $110 million to fund under-
graduate merit scholarships and stipends,
and longtime USC supporters Roger and
Michele Dedeaux Engemann gave $15 mil-
lion to support a new student health center
on the University Park campus; and in June,
the W. M. Keck Foundation gave $150 mil-
lion to accelerate groundbreaking medical,
clinical and translational research and educa-
tion at USC.
In total, USC has raised more than a bil-
lion dollars in President Nikias’ fi rst year!
“FAS REGNA TROJAE”
From the beginning of his presidency, Ni-
kias vowed to tirelessly push USC forward
and upward, while drawing strength from its
history. In his inaugural address, the newly
anointed president called attention to a little-
read inscription on the southwest-facing base
of the Trojan Shrine: “Here are provided seats
of meditative joy … where shall rise again the
destined reign of Troy.” In Latin, the second
line translates to “fas regna trojae.”
For Nikias – an electrical engineer by
training, but a classicist by temperament
– the couplet is loaded with meaning. The
Trojans stand for excellence and purity of
purpose: “No one worked harder than the
Trojans, no one was more determined than
the Trojans. And their will toward greatness
could even bend the will of the gods in their
favor,” Nikias said in his address.
In Virgil’s epic, the battle-weary Trojans –
routed by the Greeks from their native Ilium
– take to the high seas, battling monsters and
sirens, triumphing over every adversity. “And
when they reached their destination,” Nikias
added, “they would lay the cornerstone for
the great city of Rome – the mightiest and
most enduring of all empires.”
Therein lies a metaphor for today’s Trojans.
“Our own quest for undisputed elite status
could be likened to the voyage of Aeneas,”
Nikias continued. “It means the difference
between being a ‘hot’ and ‘up-and-coming’
university and being undisputedly one of the
most infl uential institutions in the world.”
What has USC got going for it to give
Nikias such confi dence? A dynamic blend
of the arts and humanities and culture, cer-
tainly. Cutting-edge science, medicine and
technology, social sciences and professions –
no doubt. Now add to that the gold standard
of real estate – location, location, location.
“As our world today is shifting away from
an Atlantic to a Pacifi c Century, USC is bet-
ter positioned than anyone else to become
the foremost laboratory of experimentation
of ‘East-West’ ideas – in scholarship and the
arts and media and journalism and culture,
to become the campus where the infl uenc-
ers of the Pacifi c Age will be educated,
shaped and molded. This is our moment,”
Nikias says, “and, I believe, that should be
our vision.”
ENDOWMENT
USC’s academic ascent, like that of every
great university, is fueled by the strength
of its endowment. Over the course of four
major fundraising campaigns since 1961, the
endowment has grown from $18 million to
$2.9 billion.
But more will be needed to lift USC to the
highest pinnacle of academe. Endowment
marches in lockstep with academic excel-
lence. If USC does not get its endowment
rank in the top tier, it will not be taken seri-
ously by its private peers. A principal goal of
the campaign is to add another $3 billion to
USC’s endowment.
Nikias believes momentum is on USC’s side.
“Right now is a perfect storm of economy and
opportunity. Right now is the moment when
our competitors are on their heels, when our
peers are picking up the pieces in a time of
great economic turmoil,” he says. “In uncer-
tain times like these, I hope you fi nd great
comfort in USC’s sound fi nancial planning
and management. While other universities
are looking to cut back, USC is planning to
move forward.”
CAMPAIGN PRIORITIES
“USC must ensure the excellence of our
faculty and fund scholarships that enable
the most talented students to attend USC
regardless of their fi nancial need,” says Al
Checcio, senior vice president for Univer-
sity Advancement. Half of the $6 billion
campaign goal will be earmarked for en-
dowments supporting these priorities, in-
cluding research. The remaining $3 billion
will fi nance immediate academic priorities,
as well as capital projects and infrastructure
improvements.
“Only fi ve schools left at our university
remain unnamed. These schools are some
of our jewels,” noted Provost Elizabeth Gar-
rett at a trustees retreat in March. The un-
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN AND VIEW PHOTOS FROM
THE PUBLIC LAUNCH, PLEASE VISIT usc.edu/campaign››
PH
OT
O B
Y P
HIL
IP C
HA
NN
ING
SCHOOL GOALS
$1.5 billion for Keck School
$750 million for USC Dornsife
$500 million for USC Viterbi
$400 million for USC Marshall
$50 million – $200 million each for remaining professional and arts schools, libraries and athletics
PRIORITIES
$2 billion for faculty and research program endowments
$1 billion for scholarship endowments
$2 billion for immediate academic priorities
$1 billion for capital projects and infrastructure improvement
14 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
named schools are architecture, theatre, phar-
macy, social work, and policy, planning, and
development.
How would a much-enlarged endowment
transform life at USC?
Take scholarships. Currently, only about 4
percent of undergraduate scholarship aid comes
from endowment income. Yet USC hands out
more than $225 million a year in undergradu-
ate student aid. The lion’s share comes from
unrestricted funds, which are not as stable a
source of support as an endowment.
Or consider endowed chairs. Top faculty
expect to receive this form of internal recog-
nition. Trying to recruit the best professors
in the world without being able to offer them
endowed chairs puts the university at a dis-
advantage.
“We have 400 endowed chairs or profes-
sorships for a faculty of 3,300,” Garrett ex-
plains. Compare that to 500 at Stanford, with
a faculty of just 1,900.
USC is likewise committed to recruiting
exceptional Ph.D. students. For example, the
Provost’s Ph.D. Fellowship Program targets
individuals who show outstanding promise
for careers in academic research and teach-
ing. USC’s campaign will seek to endow
fellowships such as these to attract talented
students and provide them with the support
they need to do their best work.
BEYOND ENDOWMENT
There are other compelling priorities beyond
building endowment.
A key campaign goal is to erect a number of
new buildings – for example, an undergradu-
ate business building, a social science build-
ing encouraging collaboration between econo-
mists with appointments in law, business, and
policy and planning, and a building shared by
the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts
and Sciences and the USC Viterbi School of
Engineering that brings together stellar new
hires working in the areas where life sciences
and engineering converge.
The campaign also aims to fund dramatic
discoveries and developments in medical re-
search, teaching and patient care.
And there is talk among the arts deans about
creating a one-of-a-kind program modeled on
the Rhodes Scholarship – an international award
that brings the best arts graduate students from
the Pacifi c Rim and India to USC.
The rising energy level is palpable. “It’s time
for USC to embrace its destiny,” Nikias says.
This, as he stated in his inaugural address,
“is the great journey. This is the way forward
to the ‘destined reign of Troy.’ ” O
UNIVERSITY
Source: Huffington Post, “The 13 Largest University Endowments,” http://huff.to/qdP03l
2010 ENDOWMENT U.S. News & World Report 2011 RANKINGS
Harvard $ 27.5 billion 1
Yale $ 16.6 billion 3
Princeton $ 14.4 billion 2
Stanford $ 13.8 billion 5
Columbia $ 6.5 billion 4
Penn $ 5.6 billion 5
USC $ 2.9 billion 23
2011
FOOTBALL PICNICS
COME JOIN US
P I C N I C S C H E D U L E
HOMEGAMEpicnic
SEPTEMBER 3
USC vs. Minnesotaseason opener
Picnic: 9:30 am
Kick-Off: 12:30 pm
HOMEGAMEpicnic
SEPTEMBER 10
USC vs. Utah
Picnic: 1:30 pm
Kick-Off: 4:30 pm
HOMEGAMEpicnic
SEPTEMBER 17
USC vs. SyracusePicnic: 2:00 pm
Kick-Off: 5:00 pm
HOMEGAMEpicnic
OCTOBER 1
USC vs. ArizonaPicnic: TBA
Kick-Off: TBA
HOMEGAMEpicnic
OCTOBER 29
USC vs. Stanfordparents weekend
Picnic: 2:00 pm
Kick-Off: 5:00 pm
HOMEGAMEpicnic
NOVEMBER 12
USC vs. Washingtonhomecoming
Picnic: 9:30 am
Kick-Off: 12:30 pm
HOMEGAMEpicnic
NOVEMBER 26
USC vs. UCLAPicnic: 4:00 pm
Kick-Off: 7:00 pm
OCTOBER 22
USC @ Notre DamePicnic: 4:00 pm ET
Kick-Off: 7:30 pm ET
AWAYGAMEpicnic
NOVEMBER 4
USC @ ColoradoPicnic: 3:00 pm MT
Kick-Off: 7:00 pm MT
AWAYGAMEpicnic
*Note: Times are subject to change
To experience the USC Associateswe invite you to join us at a picnic
Order tickets by phone at (213) 740-8722.
To learn more about the USC Associates,please visit www.usc.edu/associates
16 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
Little Caesar McCarthyist Mob
and theby Steven J. Ross
ilm scholars refer to the 1930s as the “Golden
Age of Hollywood,” a time when movies were at their
lavish best. The 1930s were also the Golden Age of
Hollywood politics, the decade when Hollywood and
its stars emerged as a major force in the nation’s politi-
cal life. While Charlie Chaplin concentrated on visual politics and
Louis B. Mayer on electoral politics, Edward G. Robinson engaged
in what soon became the dominant form of Hollywood activism,
issue-oriented politics. Robinson showed how a mobilized com-
munity of movie stars could use their celebrity to draw national
attention to the most controversial issues of the day and help sway
public opinion. At a time when most Americans ignored the expan-
sionist policies of fascist leaders Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and
Francisco Franco, Robinson and dozens of left celebrities marched
in the streets, went on the radio and issued political declarations that
attracted widespread attention.
Studies of political activism in the movie industry during the
1940s and 1950s usually focus on the House Un-American Activities
Committee (HUAC) and its attack on the 10 writers, directors
and producers who refused to testify, commonly known as the
Hollywood Ten. Yet, in many ways, this familiar history is far less
significant than the story of Robinson and the rise and fall of left-
oriented politics. Everyone in the movie industry knew that most
of the Hollywood Ten – especially John Howard Lawson, Lester
Cole, Ring Lardner Jr. and Dalton Trumbo – were or had been
Communist Party members. Therefore, it was upsetting but not
F
In his new book, Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American
Politics, USC historian Steven J. Ross chronicles how Tinseltown grew into a vital center of American political
life, using outspoken movie stars as his focus. “My cast of characters features 10 activists: five on the left and five
on the right,” Ross writes in his introduction. They include Charlie Chaplin, Ronald Reagan, Harry Belafonte,
Charlton Heston, Jane Fonda, Warren Beatty and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The following excerpt is taken from
the chapter on Edward G. Robinson (whose papers are housed at the USC Cinematic Arts Library). “The goal
of this book,” Ross writes, “is not to demonize one side of the political spectrum and praise the other. Rather,
it seeks to understand how each of these 10 people saw the world, why they became political, what they hoped
to accomplish, how they affected political life and, in several cases, the steep personal costs of their activism.”
surprising when HUAC went after them. However, Hollywood activ-
ists were truly frightened when Red hunters targeted those who were
decidedly not Communists, particularly Eddie Robinson. In late 1947,
the longtime star was completing Arthur Miller’s All My Sons and get-
ting ready to shoot Key Largo with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
Three years later, he was persona non grata in the industry he so loved.
Anti-Nazi ActivistRobinson’s desire to stop Hitler led him to join dozens of organizations,
but none proved as important as the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League
(HANL). Founded in April 1936, the HANL was the city’s best known
and most diverse Popular Front organization. Far from being a dilettante
celebrity group, the HANL marked the beginning of a new kind of issue-
oriented politics. In a Hollywood ruled by studios that controlled what
messages went on the screen, movie stars found an alternative way to
reach a broad public. They used their celebrity to raise public awareness
about the dangers Nazism posed in Europe and the United States. The
organization – whose 4,000 to 5,000 members included liberals and left-
ists such as Robinson, Melvyn Douglas and Fredric March, and conser-
vatives such as Bruce Cabot, Joan Bennett, John Ford and Dick Powell
– mounted frequent demonstrations and rallies, held talks on topics such
as “Hitlerism in America,” sponsored two weekly radio shows that publi-
cized fascist activities, published its own biweekly newspaper Hollywood
Now, called for boycotts of German products and blockaded meetings
of the Los Angeles German-American Bund. Heated protests by the
HANL also succeeded in cutting short Hollywood visits by Mussolini’s
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 17
[ POLITICS & HOLLYWOOD ]
son Vittorio in September 1937 and by Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler’s favor-
ite filmmaker, a year later.
The internationalist pronouncements of Robinson and other Hollywood
activists soon came to haunt them as HUAC began portraying anti-fas-
cists as the allies of Communists bent on destroying America. Ironically,
the impetus behind HUAC came from New York Jewish Congressman
Samuel Dickstein. In 1934, he called for a House investigation of pro-
Nazi propaganda and subversion in the United States. When Congress
approved the plan in 1938, they made Texas Representative Martin Dies
the chair and excluded the Jewish politician from HUAC. The publicity-
hungry Texan immediately launched an investigation of Hollywood,
which he called a “hotbed of communism,” but paid little attention
to fascist groups that many considered far more dangerous. In August
1938, HUAC investigator Edward
Sullivan turned the nation’s atten-
tion to the movie capital when he
accused the HANL of being a
Communist front.
Robinson entered the national
political stage on Dec. 9, 1938,
when 56 prominent stars, writ-
ers, directors and studio heads
– including James Cagney, Joan Crawford, Henry Fonda, Groucho
Marx, Rosalind Russell, Bette Davis, Paul Muni, Melvyn Douglas,
Harry Warner and Jack Warner – gathered at his home to discuss the
worsening situation in Germany and Western Europe. They consti-
tuted a Committee of 56, named after the number of signatories to the
Declaration of Independence, and signed a “Declaration of Democratic
Independence,” which they sent to Congress and the president. The
“Declaration” called for a boycott of all German products until the nation
ended its aggression toward other nations and stopped persecuting Jews
and all minorities.
When Robinson heard rumors in 1938 that Harry and Jack Warner
wanted to turn FBI agent Leon Turrou’s account of foiling a domestic
Nazi-spy ring into a film, he begged for a role. The Warners responded
by casting him as the crusading Turrou. By participating in Confessions of
a Nazi Spy, the first film to portray Nazis as a threat to America, Robinson
felt “that I am serving my country just as effectively as if I shouldered a
gun and marched away to war.”
He accepted roles in several other Warner Jewish bio-pictures and anti-
fascist films: Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (1940), which Franklin D. Roosevelt
screened at the White House that March, A Dispatch From Reuters (1940)
and The Sea Wolf (1941). Robinson’s political activism also extended to
radio, which he saw as another way to influence public opinion. In Big
Town, a series that ran from 1937 to 1942, he played crusading newspaper
editor Steve Wilson, who each week battled one of the many problems
plaguing American life.
When war broke out in Europe on Sept. 1, 1939, Robinson began
delivering speeches denouncing Nazism and right-wing isolationist
groups such as America First. Over the next three years, he participated
in an ever-wider array of organizations: the National Bureau for the Right
of Asylum and Aid to Political Refugees, the American Committee for
Protection of the Foreign Born, the Committee to Defend America
by Aiding the Allies and, after Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union on
June 22, 1941, the Russian War
Relief Association of California and
the National Council of American-
Soviet Friendship. He also used his
radio show as a platform to call for
military preparedness.
Once the United States entered
the conflict, Robinson interrupted
his film career to serve his coun-
try. In October 1942, four months after he volunteered for military
service, the Office of War Information appointed the 49-year-old “as a
Special Representative of the Overseas Operation Branch of this Agency
at London, England.” Once in London, Robinson delivered radio
addresses in half a dozen languages to countries under Nazi domination.
He returned to Europe in 1944 and was the first movie star to travel to
Normandy to entertain the troops after D-Day. During his time back
home, Robinson sold war bonds, donated $100,000 to the USO, talked
to workers at shipyards and defense plants, and appeared in numerous
government-sponsored rallies.
Cold War Consequences
The conclusion of the war in Europe and Japan marked the beginning of
a Cold War against the Soviet Union and an equally chilling war against
Hollywood activists. For Robinson, issue-oriented politics did not die
with the end of war. Defeating Nazism and fascism steeled his deter-
mination to forge a more democratic and less prejudiced postwar world.
He joined with Myrna Loy, Danny Kaye and dozens of other stars in
drumming up public support for the United Nations and working with
Robinson’s desire to stop Hitler led him to join dozens of organizations, but none proved as important as the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League.
� Is Hollywood Really Liberal? �
Longstanding conventional wisdom
that Hollywood has always been a bastion of
the political left is wrong on two counts. First,
Hollywood has a longer history of conservatism
than liberalism. It was the Republican Party,
not the Democratic Party, that established
the first political beachhead in Hollywood.
Second, and far more surprising, although the
Hollywood left has been more numerous and
visible, the Hollywood right – led by Louis
B. Mayer, George Murphy, Ronald Reagan,
Charlton Heston and Arnold Schwarzenegger
– has had a greater impact on American politi-
cal life. The Hollywood left has been more
effective in publicizing and raising funds for
various causes. But if we ask who has done
more to change the American government,
the answer is the Hollywood right. The
Hollywood left has the political glitz, but the
Hollywood right sought, won and exercised
electoral power.
Can such a counterintuitive argument
really be true? What did the Hollywood right
achieve to merit such a claim? There have
been two foundational changes in 20th cen-
tury U.S. politics. The first was the creation of
a welfare state under Franklin D. Roosevelt, a
development that established a new relation-
ship between government and the governed,
and crystallized differences among conser-
vatives, liberals and radicals. The second
was the gradual dismantling of the welfare
state that began under a movie star, Ronald
Reagan. The conservative revolution of the
1980s could not have happened without
the groundwork laid by Mayer, his protégé
George Murphy and his protégé Reagan.
STEVEN J. ROSS
18 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
the Hollywood Democratic Committee’s successor, the Hollywood
Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions,
to lobby for a Congressional bill that would have provided national health
care for all Americans.
In September 1947, HUAC subpoenaed 43 prominent Hollywood
figures and demanded that they testify before the committee. The 10
writers and directors who refused to answer questions regarding pos-
sible Communist affiliations were voted in contempt by Congress in
November, tried in federal court the following year and sentenced to 12
months in jail. Hollywood liberals and leftists responded to HUAC’s sub-
poenas by organizing the Committee for the First Amendment (CFA).
The group – which included Robinson, Marsha Hunt, Humphrey Bogart,
Lauren Bacall, Katharine Hepburn, Danny Kaye, Judy Garland, Frank
Sinatra and Gene Kelly – denounced HUAC’s actions arguing that “any
investigation into the political beliefs of the individual is contrary to the
basic principles of our democracy.” It was the Constitution, the group
declared, and not the Hollywood Ten that they were defending.
Robinson appeared on the initial list of actors to be investigated by
HUAC. Little did he realize the FBI had closely monitored his activities
for several years. FBI reports listed all the dinners Robinson hosted for
political causes between 1941 and 1945, the dates of every speech and
rally in which he was involved, and even suggested that he and [his wife]
Gladys were “involved in Russian espionage activities.” In May 1945, the
FBI sent the White House a confidential memo naming Robinson as one
of 50 movie stars accused of being a Communist or having Communist
leanings. By the summer of 1947, secret informants told the FBI that
Robinson was a member of the Communist Party and that Red lead-
ers found his political views “to be very
sound and mature.” Their accusations
led FBI agents to place his home under
surveillance and record the license plate
numbers of everyone who visited him.
American Federation of Labor leader
Matthew Woll was the first to openly
accuse Robinson of having Communist
ties. In a September 1946 magazine arti-
cle, he insisted, “Hollywood today is the third largest Communist center
in the United States” and listed Robinson as one of the most prominent
fellow travelers, a charge that was reprinted in the rabidly anti-Communist
Hollywood Reporter. An outraged Robinson sent letters to both periodicals
labeling the charges as “false and unfounded” and charged Woll with
using “Hitlerian tactics” to frighten him “by innuendo, weasel words and
false accusations.” The labor leader, he wrote, was “trying to bludgeon
and coerce me and millions of other American citizens like me away from
all enlightened, progressive, and liberal interests and activities.”
Woll’s accusations and the subsequent publicity generated by the
HUAC hearings damaged Robinson’s reputation and box-office pros-
pects, but Robinson refused to curb his political activities. Instead,
he grew more assertive in supporting controversial groups such as the
Progressive Citizens of America and the Conference of Studio Unions.
Accusations of Red affiliations increased when he campaigned in 1948
for Communist-backed Progressive Party presidential candidate Henry
Wallace, whose platform called for ending the Cold War, ending segrega-
tion and instituting universal health care for all Americans.
Robinson’s frequent clashes with Red-baiters and anti-Semites did not
initially derail his career. The actor appeared in two major features, Scarlet
Street (1945) and The Stranger (1946); in 1947 he starred in The Red House
and began shooting All My Sons, Key Largo and Night Has a Thousand Eyes.
Robinson’s fortunes were about to change. As angry fan letters poured
into studio offices, industry leaders moved to placate audiences by
pressuring stars to refrain from taking controversial political positions.
By participating in Confessions of a Nazi Spy,the first film to portray Nazis as a threat to America, Robinson felt “that I am serving my country just as effectively as if I shouldered a gun and marched away to war.”
NAZI SPIES IN AMERICA: When Robinson learned that the Warners wanted to
turn FBI agent Leon Turrou’s account of foiling a domestic Nazi-spy ring into a film,
he begged for a role.
Robinson never considered himself a radical so he never felt the need
to stop speaking out. But repeated accusations associating the star with
Communist groups made him a box-office risk. Offers for good parts, for
any parts, began to dry up. The proverbial straw that broke the back of
his career came in June 1950, when the three former FBI agents who
authored Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and
Television charged him, along with 150 other people, with belonging to
a number of Communist fronts. Although no Red affiliation was ever
proven, Robinson’s reign as a major star was over.
Outraged by the smear campaign directed against him, Robinson spent
the next three years of his life and over $100,000 of his own money trying
to clear his name and resume his career. When a three-hour visit to the
editors of Red Channels failed to change their minds, the feisty actor wrote
to HUAC requesting an opportunity to testify about his participation in
alleged Communist groups. His request was granted.
On Oct. 27, 1950, the actor appeared before HUAC’s investigative staff
in Washington D.C., with a statement that listed all the organizations in
which he participated, explained the rationale behind his political activi-
ties and accounted for every donation he made from Dec. 16, 1938 to
Dec. 15, 1949. During several hours of questioning by senior investigator
Louis J. Russell, Robinson insisted that he had “at all times subscribed
to and believed in the principles of democracy.” As for his participation
in U.S.-Russian groups, Robinson reminded Russell that at the time
Russia was the United States’ ally and the gatherings at which he spoke
included the likes of secretary of state Cordell Hull, assistant secretary
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 19
of state Dean Acheson, secretary of treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. and
numerous U.S. senators. When Russell asked “whether or not you have
ever been a member of the Communist Party of the United States or of
any other country,” the actor immediately shot back, “I am not now, nor
have I ever been, a fellow traveler or a member of the Communist Party.”
Robinson concluded by pledging to “assist and defend the United States
of America in any way within my power against any enemy, including
Russia, her supporters and satellites.”
Hoping to leave no doubts about his loyalties, Robinson wrote J. Edgar
Hoover several days
later asking to present
his case to the FBI.
Robinson told the
FBI head he “would
be more than pleased
to confront any such accuser at any time and place you may designate.”
Hoover, who considered himself “a Robinson fan,” wrote back thanking
him for bringing “your observations to my attention,” but explained that
he could do nothing to help. A similar request by Robinson to appear
before the executive board of the Motion Picture Alliance “to clear his
name of the Communist stigma” was also denied.
When new allegations surfaced several weeks later, the embattled star
returned to Washington to testify before a HUAC subcommittee. On
Dec. 21, 1950, Robinson once again swore that he had “never been a
Communist sympathizer” nor was he “active in anything that smacked
of communism.” Asked if it was true he had once said that he did not
care whether the Soviet Union took over the United States so long as he
was allowed to keep his art collection, the flabbergasted actor replied,
“That is a vicious lie.” In a highly emotional closing statement, Robinson
explained how “my good name and my Americanism” had been “hurt
by a lot of these vicious charges, and the repetition of them in a lot of
irresponsible publications.”
Choking with emotion, Robinson ended with a Patrick Henry-like
appeal: “Either snap my neck or set me free. If you snap my neck I will still
say I believe in America.” When the committee hesitated to do either, lead
investigator Russell
came to Robinson’s
defense, explaining
that he had conducted
a thorough investiga-
tion of Communists
in Hollywood in 1945 and the actor’s name did not appear on any docu-
ment linking him to the party.
News of Little Caesar’s testimony and his denial of any Communist
affiliation were widely reported in the national press. “Now that Eddie
Robinson has been completely cleared of those Communist charges by
Uncle Sam, himself,” gossip columnist Louella Parsons wrote on Dec.
26, “it’s time that all the whispering stopped.” Rumors of his Red affilia-
tion were so widespread, she added, that they were “beginning to affect
his career.” On Jan. 10, 1951, HUAC released a report clearing Robinson
“of ever having engaged in pro-Communist activities or any other activi-
ties against the interests of the United States.” Anxious to get back to
CONGA LINE: Robinson leads a conga line of Hollywood Democratic Committee stars – which included Lauren Bacall, Danny Kaye and Lucille Ball – who campaigned for Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman in 1944.
“Either snap my neck or set me free. If you snap my neck I will still say I believe in America.”
Reprinted from Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics by Steven J. Ross with permission from Oxford University Press, Inc.
Copyright © 2011 by Steven J. Ross. Recipient of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Film Scholar Award, Ross is a professor and chair of history at the
USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, co-chair of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities and the author of four books on Hollywood politics.
20 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
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work, the actor sent copies of his testimony to Samuel Goldwyn, Louis
B. Mayer, Harry and Jack Warner, Darryl Zanuck, Joseph Schenck and
Howard Hughes.
Chances for a quick resumption of Robinson’s career were crushed
when HUAC member Rep. Donald Jackson, R-Calif., who hoped to
tarnish all of Hollywood’s Democratic activists, denied that the commit-
tee had cleared his constituent. After receiving complaints by American
Legion investigators who were “disturbed over the apparent ‘white-
wash’ given” to Robinson, Jackson told the press that the actor had been
allowed to make self-serving statements without the committee calling
witnesses “who claimed to have evidence of his alleged Red affiliations.”
Ready for further battle, Robinson wrote back to HUAC chairman John
Wood asking for a quick hearing “because every day that it is postponed
only adds further damage to my name and reputation.”
Not only was Robinson denied a speedy hearing, but the national furor
over his case sparked a new round of HUAC investigations. The com-
mittee subpoenaed John Garfield, Anne Revere, José Ferrer and come-
dian Abe Burrows in March 1951. But Robinson would not be called for
another 13 months. In the meantime, his career ground to a halt. No
studio was willing to take the chance of offering the politically tainted
actor a starring role. A distraught Robinson appealed to Screen Actors
Guild (SAG) president Ronald Reagan for assistance, but the SAG officer
and FBI informant, whom Robinson had alienated during Hollywood’s
contentious postwar labor battles, refused to help him.
In April 1952, the desperate and despondent star traveled to Washington,
D.C., to testify before HUAC for a third time. In a hoarse voice, Robinson
told committee members what they wanted to hear: “I was duped and
used.” Insisting that he had “always been a liberal Democrat” who fought
to “help underprivileged or oppressed people,” a repentant Robinson con-
fessed he had slowly come “to realize that persons I thought were sincere
were Communists” and that “some organizations which I permitted to use
my name were, in fact, Communist fronts.” He had been consistently lied
to. “Not one of the Communists who sought my help or requested per-
mission to use my name ever told me that he or she was a member of the
Communist Party.” He had been a fool. “I am glad for the sake of myself
and the nation that they have been exposed by your committee.” During
the course of several grueling hours of questioning, Robinson named no
names but he did repudiate the progressive organizations to which he had
belonged in the 1930s and 1940s.
His testimony made newspaper headlines throughout the country.
“Robinson Says He Was Duped by Reds,” blared one daily, “EGR Called
‘Sucker’ for Red Fronts” screamed another headline. Desperate to salvage
his career, the actor continued his ritual of rehabilitation through humilia-
tion by publishing an article in the October 1952 issue of American Legion
Magazine titled “How the Reds Made a Sucker Out of Me.” Robinson
told readers that while he had “never paid much attention to communism
in the past,” he now knew how they went about duping loyal Americans.
“They do not reveal themselves as communists,” but pose “as fine
American citizens who are for ‘peace,’ or ‘decent working conditions,’ or
‘against intolerance.’ ” These were lies; their real aim was “world domina-
tion, oppression, and slavery for the working people and the minorities
they profess to love.” The contrite actor ended by swearing, “I am not a
communist, I have never been, I never will be – I am an American.”
Neither his article nor his HUAC testimony succeeded in clearing his
name or restoring his career. During the next several years, the only offers
he received were minor roles, at greatly reduced pay, in minor films such
as Actors and Sin (1952), Vice Squad (1953), Big Leaguer (1953), The Glass
Web (1953), Black Tuesday (1954) and The Violent Men (1955).
Robinson was forced into one last humiliating round of testifying
before HUAC when it was revealed in January 1954 that he had loaned
$300 to Louis J. Russell, the committee’s chief investigator.
Ironically, Robinson was restored to semi-respectability in 1956 when
Cecil B. DeMille, one of Hollywood’s most prominent anti-Communists,
offered him a plum role in The Ten Commandments as the Hebrew informer
Dathan. After making The Ten Commandments, Robinson waited almost
three years before being offered another significant part, this time in
Frank Capra’s A Hole in the Head (1959). Robinson continued making
movies until his death in 1973 and even experienced a mild resurgence
in the 1960s, appearing in 19 movies between 1960 and 1973. Ironically,
his best role of the era was as Lancey Howard, the seemingly washed
up gambler, in The Cincinnati Kid (1965), a film co-written by blacklisted
writer Ring Lardner Jr.
Robinson’s story is more than just the sad tale of a decent man caught in
the web of events beyond his control. In many ways, his persecution and
political retreat had a far more devastating effect on the film community
than that of the Hollywood Ten. Politically aware actors knew that most of
the Ten were Communist Party members. But Robinson was no radical,
let alone a Red.
Robinson’s downfall sent an even greater chill throughout the industry
than the incarceration of the Hollywood Ten. Actors, directors, writers and
producers did not condone HUAC’s actions, but they understood why
the committee pursued such well-known radicals. Robinson was quite
another case. If the government could drive a left-liberal like Eddie out
of the business, a man whom even anti-Communists like Ronald Reagan
called “one of the warmest-hearted, truly kind people in the world,”
then they could go after anyone. And if a star of Robinson’s magnitude
could not survive such attacks, was anyone safe? A whole generation of
Hollywood activists took note of his fate. ●
AMONG FRIENDS: Democratic Party activists Robinson and Humphrey Bogart meet and shake hands with Eleanor Roosevelt.
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 21
[ THE FUTURE IS NOW ]
ICT’s Light Stage 5 captures the shape, shine, color and texture of an actor’s face, creating a realistic digital character.
22 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
Brave New World
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 23
At USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies,
virtual reality is the new reality.
By Orli Belman
FOR APRIL FOOLS’ THIS YEAR, Google introduced Gmail Motion, an e-mail feature that claimed to replace simple key strokes and
mouse clicks with exaggerated body movements like pantomiming opening an envelope to read a message or licking a stamp to
send one. ¶ People got a laugh watching Google’s spoof video. But Evan Suma, a virtual-reality researcher at the USC Institute
for Creative Technologies (ICT), got an idea. ¶ Using skeleton tracking data from Microsoft Kinect, a system that allows users to
interact through voice and body gestures without the need for a controller, Suma proved the prank was possible. His demonstra-
tion video, posted that same day, went viral, earning applause from tech blogs, The New York Times and Google itself. ¶ Suma’s
video was lighthearted. But it is a prime example of the serious work taking place at ICT, a U.S. Army-sponsored research and
development lab in Playa Vista, Calif., where academics, artists, scientists and storytellers take computer-based toys and dream
up futuristic tools that train soldiers, treat patients, teach students and more.
Suma’s gesture-translating toolkit has led to the development of more effective physical rehabilitation systems. His USC col-
leagues have already transformed off-the-shelf headsets and joysticks into successful virtual-reality therapy for treating post-
traumatic stress disorder. ICT-created games teach U.S. armed forces skills ranging from negotiating with people of other cul-
tures to detecting improvised explosive devices. Additional applications build social skills for children with autism and educate
parents about juvenile cancers. ¶ The institute specializes in developing virtual humans, computer-animated characters that
appear, speak, understand, express emotions and display body language in ever-more realistic ways. So similar are the virtual
models to humans that ICT’s graphics guru Paul Debevec received an Academy Award in 2010 for his advances in creating
believable digital doubles in movies like Avatar and Spider-Man 2. ¶ In research settings, these human facsimiles advance social
scientists’ understanding of how people think, feel and behave. Outside the lab, they live in laptops and large installations across
the country, employed as digital docents explaining science to museum visitors, online coaches providing guidance to soldiers
and families seeking mental health resources, and virtual role players replacing live actors for training mental health workers
or teaching troops to better conduct field interviews. ¶ “It is not enough to use technologies to create a cool experience,” says
Randall W. Hill Jr., ICT’s executive director who oversees an interdisciplinary team of nearly 200 experts, including computer
scientists, digital artists, script writers, game designers, physical therapists and psychologists. “We are creating a whole new way
for people to engage with computers so that they can practice, learn and perform better.” ¶ And that is a gesture anyone can
appreciate. ¶ Here and on the following pages are examples of the futuristic research taking place at ICT.
Think play, with a purpose.
24 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
NOT JUST GAMES
ICT video games transform textbook teachings and real-world wisdom into
interactive learning experiences. Research teams have collaborated with
experts from the USC Rossier School of Education and the USC School of
Cinematic Arts to develop applications that combine advanced artificial intelli-
gence, evidence-based educational designs and engaging story-based lessons.
In the negotiation trainer ELECT BiLAT (top), the student assumes the
role of a U.S. Army officer who needs to conduct a series of meetings with local
leaders to achieve mission objectives. To be successful, players must establish
relationships with these virtual characters and be sensitive to their cultural
conventions. Declining an offer to drink tea or skipping small talk to discuss
business can set the negotiations back or end them completely. The game
incorporates ICT research on advanced virtual humans who display believ-
able behaviors and computational models of social interaction that emulate
individual and group responses. And it features intelligent tutoring to provide
students with real-time guidance and in-depth feedback.
Serious games like these are used by thousands of American servicemen.
West Point cadet Eric Zastoupil recently tested the game with ICT scientist
H. Chad Lane (bottom).
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DIGITAL DOUBLES
Paul Debevec, ICT’s associate director for graphics research and a research
professor of computer science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, was
inspired to become a visual-effects innovator after watching a DeLorean fly in
the movie Back to the Future.
Debevec is seen above in Light Stage 6, one of a series of LED light-filled
spheres he developed to capture and simulate how people and objects appear
under real-world lighting conditions. Debevec’s technologies enable virtual
worlds and characters to look convincing. They have been employed to create
detailed digital faces that mirror their human counterparts down to individual
skin pores and wrinkles.
Work on these systems earned Debevec and his collaborators a 2010
Scientific and Engineering Academy Award. ICT’s Graphics Lab also devel-
oped a 3-D video teleconferencing system that beams hologram-like images
capable of maintaining eye contact and conversations with people in other
locations. Back to the future, indeed.
SEE VIDEOS ON ICT’S INNOVATIVE
RESEARCH AT youtube.com/USCICT
26 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
VIRTUAL REALITY IS ABOUT IMMERSION
ICT’s Mixed Reality Lab (MxR) studies and creates immersive systems that
incorporate both real and virtual elements. Led by Mark Bolas, who also is an
associate professor in the Interactive Media Division of the USC School of
Cinematic Arts, MxR creates simulated environments in which participants
can speak, move and gesture as readily as they would in the real world.
Above, Bolas demonstrates “stretching space,” an effort led by researcher
Evan Suma (opposite page, bottom right) that uses imperceptible redirec-
tion techniques to transform a limited physical space into a boundless virtual
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 27
world. For example, a gravel path inside the lab provides the base for a winding
journey down roadways and through buildings. These virtual research projects
have real implications for training, education and entertainment.
A head-mounted projector generates individualized perspectives (this page,
top and center), providing each wearer a different image on the same screen.
The system allows a user to perceive whether a virtual character is establishing
eye contact, gesturing or pointing a weapon at them.
28 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
Meet Ada and Grace, two bright and bubbly educators who arrived at Boston’s
Museum of Science in 2009. Science and technology are literally part of their
being. That’s because they aren’t real people – but virtual ones. Designed to
advance the public’s awareness of, and engagement in, computer science and
emerging learning technologies, the virtual guides make a museum visit richer by
answering visitor questions, suggesting exhibitions and explaining the technol-
ogy that makes them work.
Named after two inspirational female computer science pioneers, Ada
Lovelace and Grace Hopper, these digital docents are trailblazers in their own
right. As part of an exhibition called InterFaces, they are among the first and most
advanced virtual humans ever created to speak face-to-face with museum visi-
tors. As both examples and explainers of technical scientific concepts, Ada and
Grace represent a new and potentially transformative medium for engaging the
public in science.
VIRTUAL HUMANITY
SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM ICT AT
tfm.usc.edu/bravenewworld››
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BRINGING AGENTS TO LIFE
If you have questions or comments on this article, go to tfm.usc.edu/mailbag
Built on the same platform as Ada and Grace, ICT’s Sgt. Star (top, right) is a
life-sized virtual human who can talk about Army life and careers. Other ICT
virtual characters help develop skills in leadership, negotiation and cultural
awareness.
In another project called Gunslinger (middle, right), virtual human technolo-
gies combine with Hollywood storytelling and set building to transport users
to the Wild West. Players speak with virtual characters, who also speak to one
another. By combining improvised conversation with carefully crafted narra-
tive, Gunslinger pushes the frontiers of virtual human research and interactive
storytelling.
Petty Officer Samuel Sarax (bottom, right) is a combat veteran with emo-
tional scars that won’t heal. A collaboration between the USC School of Social
Work and ICT, this virtual patient is helping prepare future clinicians to
address mental health needs of soldiers, veterans and their families. Student
therapists can practice their skills in conducting interviews and making diag-
noses before meeting real patients. Other ICT medical virtual-reality projects
provide therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder and rehabilitation for stroke
and traumatic brain injury. ●
“Awful.”
That is how veterinarian Nicole Knapp, 30, described her experience with ulcer-
ative colitis. “I lost 25 pounds in 10 months. Many foods just ran through me so fast
I couldn’t keep weight on,” Knapp recalls. “I tried to keep up with my busy veteri-
nary practice – running to the bathroom between appointments. My work partners
were very understanding, but it got to the point where I was so debilitated I ended
up in the hospital.”
30 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
Ulcerative colitis is an infl ammatory bowel disease of the
large intestine, or colon, with onset usually occurring during a
person’s teen years or twenties. Knapp was 28 in 2009 when her
symptoms, which included painful stomach cramps, increased in
severity. A colonoscopy showed her colon was lined with ulcers.
Though there is no known cause for ulcerative colitis, there
is a presumed genetic component to susceptibility. The dis-
ease also may be triggered in a susceptible person by envi-
ronmental factors. Knapp’s experience matches both theories.
She has a family member who suffers from Crohn’s disease – a
similar condition – and her symptoms fi rst began years ear-
lier as mild stomach upset while she was keeping up with the
grueling pace of academic study in veterinary school. Knapp
chalked the stomach upset and bowel irregularity up to stress.
She felt she was too young for her symptoms to be a cause for
worry, and she assumed all would vanish with her completion
of school. Instead, her problems worsened.
Jacques Van Dam, professor of medicine
at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and
director of clinical gastroenterology at USC
University Hospital, says that young people
with this ailment often have very advanced
disease by the time they arrive at his gastro-
enterology offi ce.
“Young people aren’t used to being ill, so they often seek
care only when symptoms become severe,” Van Dam says.
“Add in the ‘embarrassment factor’ because young people are
still a bit shy about personal issues that may involve exams of
the rectum and colon. That results in a more severe problem
by the time I see them. Their symptoms are no longer mild,
but often painful and weakening, so they are more agreeable to
the diagnostic process. Of course, we make them comfortable
Minimally invasive colorectal surgery
lets veterinarian Nicole Knapp return
to her practice – and a normal life.
BY MARY ELLEN ZENKA
When the Healer Needs Healing
[ DOCTORS OF USC ]
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 31
and they learn the tests aren’t too diffi cult.”
Diarrhea and stomach cramping can
come from a foodborne bacteria, poor diet
or stress, among other factors. According to
Van Dam, experiencing these symptoms for
three to fi ve days is generally no cause for
concern. However, if symptoms continue for
many days, a person should consult his or her
physician.
By the time Knapp ended up hospitalized
with dehydration and fever in September
2010, all attempts at controlling her ever-
increasing nausea, diarrhea, cramping and
muscle weakness were failing. She had tried
various drug therapies and dietary restric-
tions for several months without much
effect. She could no longer work and had to
take disability leave from her practice.
“My husband and I couldn’t go out much,
and if I did, I had to know where the clos-
est bathroom would be before I even left
my house,” Knapp says. “I was always tired
from nightly sleep loss due to bathroom
visits. Eating made me anxious because I
didn’t always know how my system would
react. I was miserable, and my husband felt
helpless.”
AT EASE After years of increasing discomfort and pain, Nicole Knapp turned to USC for expert minimally invasive surgery. PHOTOGRAPHS BY PHILIP CHANNING
some cases, a superior overall outcome.
While laparoscopic techniques vary widely,
surgeons generally make a small incision and
insert an endoscope – a long, thin tube with
a lighted, high-defi nition camera at its tip.
The camera sends an image to a high-defi -
nition monitor, which the surgical team uses
to view the area on which they will operate.
Surgeons can then guide specially designed
surgical instruments through the original cut
or through other small incisions.
For Knapp, Senagore and his team per-
formed an ileostomy due to her chronic
infl ammation. This procedure temporarily
re-routed the contents of Knapp’s intestines
to an external opening made in her abdomi-
nal area. The bowel contents exit into a col-
lection bag worn under clothing. During this
initial surgery, her colon also was removed.
“For the fi rst time in years, I didn’t have
cramping,” Knapp recalls. “It was a wel-
comed break, even though I knew I had a
long way to go with future surgeries.”
While optimistic, Knapp knew her heal-
ing would take much longer. She and her
husband chose to leave their apartment and
move in with her mother, a registered nurse,
who would provide the home health care
necessary for Knapp’s recovery.
After several weeks of healing, Knapp
returned to USC University Hospital for the
second of her three-part surgical process.
This time, Senagore used his laparoscopic
skills to remove Knapp’s diseased rectum
and construct a “J Pouch.” Using the end
portion of the small intestine called the
ileum, the pouch is pulled down and sutured
to what remains of the rectum area, forming
a shape similar to the letter “J.”
“This pouch takes the place of the colon
by becoming a reservoir for stool between
bowel movements,” Senagore explains. “A
patient with such advanced disease as this
may not return to the normal bathroom hab-
its she once had. But she will have more con-
trol than she did previously. This will improve
her life and allow her to return to work.”
Minimally invasive techniques often
result in less residual trauma for surgical
patients. The discomfort, pain and potential
for disability or morbidity associated with
conventional surgery is due to the trauma
Exploring surgical options
Knapp’s symptoms had become so debili-
tating that she knew the time had come for
surgical intervention. Her physicians told
her three consecutive surgeries would be
necessary before she could return to work
with a bowel-elimination routine that would
be easier to manage.
Hospitalized at a prominent Los Angeles-
area hospital, she was informed that surgeons
wanted to open her abdominal area using
standard, hands-in surgery, which would
involve large incisions, increased pain, lon-
ger recovery periods between operations
and an increased chance of internal scarring
that might affect her future fertility. None of
this was acceptable to Knapp. She did some
research and found the chief of the division
of colorectal surgery at the Keck School,
Anthony Senagore, who had a reputation for
pioneering minimally invasive, laparoscopic
surgeries for colorectal care.
“When I fi rst met Dr. Knapp, she was a
very sick young woman,” Senagore remem-
bers. “She had been diagnosed with ulcer-
ative colitis for a couple of years and had
taken a variety of expensive and complicated
medicines to try and control it. Those drugs
are not for long-term use and can become
toxic to the body. Plus, her immune sys-
tem was knocked down to the point where
she was having diffi culty fi ghting off other
ailments. She was generally malnourished
because eating was problematic. I knew the
time for her to have the surgeries had come,
and I knew she would benefi t from the min-
imally invasive, laparoscopic surgery tech-
niques that I had developed,” he adds.
Minimally invasive surgery allows sur-
geons to operate through small incisions,
compared to the larger incisions during tra-
ditional surgery. For patients, this technique
often translates into less postoperative pain,
a shorter hospital stay, faster recovery and, in
PIONEERING SURGEON Anthony Senagore recognized that Knapp would benefi t from minimally invasive surgical techniques he developed.
A variety of infl ammatory bowel diseases and
gastrointestinal cancers share the same initial
symptoms as ulcerative colitis – abdominal
cramping, bloody diarrhea, frequent heartburn
and sometimes anemia due to blood loss. Expert
diagnosis is the fi rst step in fi nding relief and
proper treatment.
If a patient is diagnosed with a cancer, he or
she will likely require a multilayered treatment of
drug therapy, such as chemotherapy, and surgery
to remove tumors.
“Timing in cancer treatment is important,”
says Syma Iqbal MD ‘95, assistant professor of
medical oncology at the Keck School of Medicine
of USC. “If a patient needs surgery, often the
recovery period goes on for weeks. This can
delay the onset of life-saving chemotherapy or
halt the progress of an existing chemo treatment
until the patient is strong enough to resume it
after surgery.”
As a gastrointestinal oncologist, Iqbal fre-
quently treats patients who need to have surgery
for cancerous tumors. With recent advancements
in minimally invasive surgery, Iqbal collabo-
rates with surgeons in the division of colorectal
surgery and sees better patient outcomes as a
result. “Since postoperative recovery times have
decreased, morbidity has lessened,” she says.
“We see less physical stress on a patient, as well
as emotional stress, which leads to the chance for
a better result.”
According to Iqbal, laparoscopic techniques
are proving important for surgical options with
metastatic disease, as well. Portions of organs,
such as the liver, stomach, esophagus or colon,
can be removed without the trauma to the body
that a full open incision would cause.
“Cancer is complicated,” Iqbal says. “Some-
times tumor removal is the correct choice, and if it
can be done with a minimally invasive technique,
it is always better for the patient.”
M A R Y E L L E N Z E N K A
Minimally invasive surgery provides advantages for cancer patients
in obtaining access to the area
through large, often muscle-cutting
incisions to perform the surgery,
rather than the surgery itself. With
conventional colorectal surgery, a
patient is hospitalized for fi ve to
seven days and requires at least six
weeks of recovery time.
“Each time, I was only in the
hospital for about two days,” Knapp
says. “I was able to walk out with
only very small incisions and bear-
able pain. My third, and fi nal, sur-
gery was to have the ileostomy
reversed. Getting rid of this external
collection bag was a relief. All went
well with that surgery, too, thanks
to Dr. Senagore and his team.”
Looking ahead
Knapp is eager to put this all behind
her and return to date nights with
her husband. With her increasing
stamina, she has already returned
to the kitchen and her baking. It’s
the little things she says she missed
most, like making holiday cookies with her
mom.
“Though Dr. Knapp’s case was compli-
cated, it also was typical for advanced ulcer-
ative colitis,” Senagore explains. “So many
people affl icted with this problem are young
and anxious to resume their normal activi-
ties. Minimally invasive surgery techniques
expedite that process.”
Knapp also is eager to resume the profes-
sional challenges at her veterinary practice
and spend more time with animals. Though
comforted by the four dogs vying for her
affection at home, she knows it isn’t the
same as spending each day helping to heal
suffering animals. Her spiraling disease
experience taught her how debilitating an
illness can be and has increased her compas-
sion for others – a very important attribute
for someone in her line of work.
“My disease turned life’s simplest plea-
sures into hassles,” Knapp says. “I am so
thankful and relieved to have found Dr.
Senagore and his skilled team at USC Uni-
versity Hospital. It has been a very tough
year – feeling so sick and weak for so long.
Finally, I feel like I can put this all behind
me and move on with both my professional
and personal life.” ●
To schedule an appointment or for additional
information, please call (323) 865-3690, or visit
uschospitals.com/colorectalsurgery
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 33
MOVING FORWARD Now recovered from surgery to ease her ulcerative colitis, Knapp looks forward to return-ing to her veterinary practice.
AFRICA / MIDDLE EASTBotswana*March 1–11
Treasures of East AfricaOctober 8–22
Legends of the NileNovember 6–17
ASIA / SOUTH PACIFICSplendors Down UnderFebruary 19–March 8
Journey through Vietnam*March 14–24
Mystical India*March 18–April 4
Tahitian JewelsApril 21–May 3
China and TibetMay 19–June 3
Waterways of RussiaAugust 28–September 7
CENTRAL / SOUTH AMERICACruise the Lesser AntillesJanuary 27–February 3
Samba Rhythms (Brazil)February 25–March 9
Alumni Campus Abroad – PeruMarch 19–29
*USC exclusive departure
Destinations and dates are subject to change
EUROPETreasures of Antiquity(Greece, Italy, Malta)March 18–April 1
Cruise the Canary Islands and the Iberian PeninsulaMarch 28–April 8
Waterways of Holland and Belgium (The Floriade)April 14–22
Celtic LandsApril 22–May 1
Alumni Campus Abroad Apulia (Italy)May 1–9
Continental Passage: Cruise Barcelona to SouthamptonMay 8–21
Sketches of SpainMay 17–27
Italian Lake DistrictMay 19–27
Jewels of Antiquity (French Riviera, Italy, Greece, Balkans) May 25–June 9
Alumni Campus Abroad – Rhône RiverMay 26–June 3
England’s CotswoldsJune 2–10
Changing Tides of History: Cruising the Baltic SeaJune 5–17
Alumni Campus Abroad – AustriaJune 11–21
Danube River and the Habsburg EmpireJune 14–27
Along the Adriatic SeaJuly 1–9
Insider’s BerlinJuly 14–21
Wine and Cheese of Northern Italy*August 4–12
Cruising the Black SeaSeptember 9–17
Ancient Greece and TurkeyOctober 11–19
NORTH AMERICAAlaskaJuly 6–13
The Best of the Canadian RockiesJuly 22–28
WORLD / UNIQUEExpedition to AntarcticaFebruary 15–28
Cultures and Cuisines by Private Jet (Europe and Asia)September 18–October 10
Heaven and Earth by Private Jet (Australia, Europe, Asia & the Americas)October 31–November 20
TRAVEL THE WORLD TROJAN-STYLEMAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS TODAY!
eSCapes: Specialty Travel for Trojans
The Kentucky DerbyMay 3–6
International Lifestyles Explorations: Aix–En–ProvenceMay 26–June 24
Discovery Retreats: ColoradoJune 17–21
Discover SwitzerlandAugust 8–23
YOUNG ALUMNI TRAVEL PROGRAM
Alpine Winter AdventureFebruary 18–26
Call (213) 821-6005 or visithttp://alumni.usc.edu/travel
campaign. This is a high priority for me, and
we’ll develop a day of service – what I call a
“philanthropy in action” worldwide program –
to leverage the deep culture of volunteerism
within the Trojan Family.
What leadership advice would you
give to your son Anthony? I would tell
him to lead with vision, passion, inspiration,
energy, direction and commitment – and by
example. Do not expect others to do a job
that you are not willing to do yourself. Work
side by side with your colleagues and make
it a team effort. You will gain so much more
as a leader who is truly involved and not just
watching from the sidelines.
How do you inspire others to give back
to USC? Inspiring others is easy if you are
inspired! There are so many ways to give
back to USC – volunteering, mentoring,
attending events, financial support – so be
creative, stimulate through new ideas, and
build on the momentum at USC.
Anthony, what inspired you to become
president of Society 53, and what
advice would you give students want-
ing to get involved? I was inspired by my
parents and by Hillary Buckner ’11, a good
friend and past president of Society 53. It
was an honor to serve as her vice president
and work with the program’s dedicated
members. I would encourage every student
to join a campus organization, to give back
to the university and to broaden their col-
lege experience. Whatever I’m involved with,
whether it’s my school or clubs, I make sure I
give back in some positive way; it’s extremely
rewarding and a great way to meet people.
Why are you so passionate about USC
and giving back? The best part about USC
is that it offers everything: excellent academ-
ics, exceptional professors, amazing sports
programs, lifelong friendships, an entertain-
ing social life and unforgettable memories
– all in an incredible urban environment. I
remember going home for Thanksgiving my
freshman year of college and telling my high
school friends how excited I was to get back
to school. That is the effect USC has on peo-
ple. It makes you never want to leave cam-
pus because it offers you one of the greatest
experiences of your life. And the best thing is
that it doesn’t end when you graduate – USC
and the Trojan Family will be there for you
the rest of your life. �
Lisa, what does it mean to you to have
so many of your family members go to
USC? I am extremely proud to come from
a USC family and am honored to have my
three children attend and graduate from USC.
I have relived my USC experience through
them, and I believe this generational legacy is
one of the university’s greatest strengths.
What are your priorities as president?
The Board of Governors provides critical advice
and support to the USC Alumni Association
in the development of USC’s alumni relations
program. As president, I will work closely
with my fellow board members and staff to
increase the USC Alumni Association’s visibility
across campus and in Trojan communities
worldwide.
This year, we also will be working with
University Advancement and alumni lead-
ers to build a culture of philanthropy among
the Trojan Family in support of USC’s capital
family ties
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 35
PH
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Lisa Barkett ’81 takes the reins as president of the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors,
following 20 years of service to her local women’s group Trojan League Associates of San Diego
County. Her new post coincides with her son Anthony Barkett taking over as 2011-12 president
of Society 53, the USC Alumni Association’s student outreach program. They spoke with the USC
Alumni Association’s Cheryl Collier.
A Conversation with Lisa & Anthony Barkett
FOR PROFILES OF OTHER
TROJAN LUMINARIES, VISIT
alumni.usc.edu/archives/profiles››
36 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
Mark Sanchez ’09 received the inaugural
Young Alumni Merit Award, which recog-
nizes the achievements of alumni under 35.
Other alumni merit awards went to Larry S.
Flax ’67, LLM ’71, co-founder and co-CEO
of California Pizza Kitchen, and Bryan
Lourd ’82, partner and managing director
of Creative Artists Agency, a leading enter-
tainment and sports agency. Lourd spoke of
his enduring bond with his undergraduate
mentor Joan Schaefer, the former USC dean
of women, who had encouraged Lourd to
expand his horizons by studying art, music
and literature.
Four of USC’s most devoted volunteers
also were recognized for their decades of
service to the university and the Trojan
Family. George L. Pla MPA ’74, one of
the founding members of the USC Latino
Elegance Meets Excellence
Ten Trojans Honored at the 78th Annual USC Alumni Awards
MARKING THE END OF an unprecedented
school year for the university and the USC
Alumni Association (USCAA), the 78th
annual USC Alumni Awards drew a record
crowd of nearly 800 Trojans and friends to
the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites
in downtown Los Angeles on April 30.
USCAA’s premier event paid tribute to 10
distinguished members of the Trojan Fam-
ily, including USC president C. L. Max
Nikias and fi rst lady Niki C. Nikias, who
were awarded honorary alumni status.
In his welcoming remarks, USC Alumni
Association CEO Scott M. Mory spoke
of the “palpable buzz of excitement and
anticipation” at USC and among alumni
about the university’s future under the
visionary leadership of President Nikias.
USCAA Board of Governors president
Carol C. Fox MS ’62 (who completed her
term in May) then welcomed and thanked
friends and supporters of the USCAA.
Their remarks set the tone for the evening,
which unfolded in the Westin’s elegant
California Ballroom.
The Asa V. Call Alumni Achievement
Award, USC’s highest alumni honor, was
presented to longtime university benefac-
tor and trustee Ronald N. Tutor ’63, whose
gifts have helped name the Ronald Tu-
tor Campus Center and the USC Viterbi
School of Engineering’s Tutor Hall. Ac-
cepting his award, Tutor shared fond mem-
ories of his undergraduate days at USC and
described his close-knit friendship with
President Nikias.
Called “a true champion on and off the
fi eld” by Fox, New York Jets quarterback
From left, alumni awards chairs Scott Gilmore ’75, JD/MBA ’78 and Lisa Barkett ’81, Scott Mory, Bryan Lourd ’82, Robert Plumleigh, George Pla MPA ’74, Elizabeth Plumleigh MLA ’84, Niki Nikias, Joann Koll, President Nikias, Ronald Tutor ’63, Mark Sanchez ’09, Carol Fox MS ’62 and Larry Flax ’67, LLM ’71 P
HO
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IN RECOGNITION
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 37
Alumni Association, and Robert E. Plum-
leigh and Elizabeth Plumleigh MLA ’84,
longtime supporters of several USC schools
and organizations, received alumni service
awards. The Fred B. Olds Award, which
recognizes Trojans for their extraordinary
and unparalleled service to the university
over an extended period of time, went to
Joann Koll, a former chair of the university’s
Alumnae Coordinating Council and, at the
time, a member of the USCAA Board of
Governors.
In honoring President and Mrs. Nikias,
Fox and USC trustee Daniel J. Epstein
’62 presented them with two framed, gold-
plated USC Alumni Association member-
ship cards. Both membership cards were in-
scribed with President Nikias’ inauguration
date: Oct. 15, 2010.
The ceremony also featured perfor-
mances by USC Thornton School of Music
students and the traditional, end-of-evening
send-off by the USC Trojan Marching Band
led by Art Bartner, along with the USC Song
Girls and Spirit Leaders.
T I M O T H Y O . K N I G H T
Carol Fox and President Nikias with Asa V. Call Alumni Achievement Award winner Ronald Tutor (center)
Alumni Merit Award recipient Bryan Lourd with his mentor, former USC dean of women Joan Schaefer
New York Jets quarterback and Young Alumni Merit Award recipient Mark Sanchez (far left) poses with President Nikias. USC Thornton School of Music students Yu-Joong Kim (above left), Kayla Moffett (on violin) and Malena Michota perform at the awards ceremony.
FOR MORE ALUMNI EVENTS,
VISIT alumni.usc.edu››
alumni SCene
38 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
1. Let the Games Begin!
With the 2012 Olympic Games on their way
to the U.K. next summer, the USC Alumni
Club of London organized a walking tour of
Olympic Park currently under construction
in East London. Here, alumni, overseas stu-
dents, and Trojan friends and family mem-
bers pose in front of the nearly completed
Olympic Stadium on May 21. Said London
club member Jen Ladwig ’99, “We London-
ers feel lucky that our city will be hosting
the games next year!”
2. Graduating with Pride
On May 7, the USC Lambda LGBT
Alumni Association, in cooperation with
campus LGBT student groups, pre-
sented the 17th annual Lavender Com-
mencement Celebration at USC’s Argue
Plaza adjacent to Widney Alumni House.
Todd Dickey, USC senior vice president
for administration, introduced keynote
speaker Stephanie Miller ’83, host of the
syndicated talk-radio program The Stephanie Miller Show. After the announcement of the
2011-12 scholarship recipients, Patrick Bai-
ley, USC senior associate dean of students,
recognized 60 graduating LGBT and allied
students, many pictured here.
3. An Executive Evening in Dallas
Texas Trojans and friends gathered at the
Park City Club in Dallas on May 25 for the
second annual Executive Evening: Indus-
try Trends and Career Opportunities, pre-
sented by the USC Alumni Club of North
Texas. USC Alumni Association Board of
Governors member John Clendening ’85,
MBA ’92, senior vice president of market-
ing communications for Siemens PLM
Software, moderated a panel discussion
featuring professionals from the worlds of
higher education, medicine and telecom-
munications. Pictured here (from left) are
Clendening; USC Alumni Club of North
Texas board member Nick Tipoff ’89; pan-
elist Maj. Gen. Mary L. Saunders, USAF
(Ret.), executive director of the Texas
Woman’s University Leadership Institute;
and club president Byron Howard ’92.
4. SPPD in D.C.
On May 26, Beltway Trojans attended the
fi rst in a yearlong series of “fi reside chats”
co-hosted by the USC School of Policy,
Planning, and Development (SPPD), the
USC Alumni Association and the USC
Alumni Club of the Nation’s Capital. Held
at the university’s Washington, D.C., offi ce,
the discussion was led by SPPD dean Jack
Knott, who introduced guest speaker Arif
Alikhan, a distinguished visiting professor
of homeland security and counterterrorism
at National Defense University. At left are
Alikhan and Knott; at right are fi ve event
attendees. ●
A busy spring for Trojans in
London, L.A., Dallas and D.C.
1
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2 3
Class of 1961 – 50th Reunion
Class of 1971 – 40th Reunion
Class of 1981 – 30th Reunion
Class of 1986 – 25th Reunion
Class of 2001 – 10th Reunion
See how campus has changed as you relive USC memories and create new ones with alumni, family and friends! Reunion Weekend 2011 includes:
• Special class celebrations• Academic presentations highlighting the best of USC• Homecoming festivities• Tailgates and football (USC vs. Washington)
For up-to-date registration information and to support reunion class giving, visit http://alumni.usc.edu/reunion
1 9 3 0 s
Julian Myers ’39 co-produced a feature fi lm
about artists Edward and Josephine Hop-
per titled Nighthawks: 90 Minutes and Nine
Lives. He is a Hollywood publicist living in
Marina del Rey, Calif.
1 9 5 0 s
Jack Couffer ’52 of Corona del Mar, Calif.,
chronicled his experiences as a director of
animal and nature footage in his memoir,
The Lion and the Giraffe: A Naturalist’s Life
in the Movie Business. He has worked on
productions like the Born Free sequel and
series, Never Cry Wolf and Out of Africa.
Michael Halperin ’55 was selected to
showcase his comedy Freedom, Texas on the
performance slate for the National Play-
wrights’ Slam, an annual event held at the
Theatre Communications Group Confer-
ence in Los Angeles.
Carl R. Terzian ’57, a Los Angeles-based
public relations consultant and past presi-
dent of the Los Angeles Fire Commission,
was honored by the Jewish Vocational Ser-
vice with the Corporate Partnership Award.
Carol Lindberg ’59, MS ’64 of Ventura,
Calif., was selected as the Woman of the
Year for California Assembly District 35 for
her efforts on behalf of the community. She
worked as a teacher at Montalvo and Loma
Vista schools before retiring in 1993.
1 9 6 0 s
Roland S. Jefferson ’61 of Los Angeles is
the author of White Coat Fever, a novel that
explores the world of the 1960s when
Motown, jazz and the civil rights move-
ment defi ned the entire generation.
He also wrote A Card for the Players.
Paul Bryan Jr. ’66 painted a portrait of Los
Angeles Philharmonic conductor Gustavo
Dudamel and later sent it to him as a gift.
He lives in Balboa Island, Calif.
Bill Altaffer ’67, MS ’69 spent a week at the
Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center,
a facility in Russia responsible for training
cosmonauts for space missions. He wrote
class notes
40 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
Identical Blueprints
IDENTICAL TWIN SISTERS Carolyn McCarron Brink ’54 (left) and Marilyn McCarron
Urmston ’54, ME ’74 lived a life of togetherness. Born one minute apart, the sisters were
so inseparable that there were only two years when they lived more than a mile apart.
After graduating from the USC School of Architecture, they worked at various fi rms
throughout Southern California. Carolyn eventually went on to become head architect
for Kaiser Permanente. Marilyn went into teaching, fi rst as an instructor at Los Angeles
Trade Technical School and later as vice president at Mission College in San Fernando.
Marilyn died June 10, 1992, in Santa Monica, Calif., after a two-decade-long battle
with breast cancer, at the age of 60. Carolyn died July 19 in Arcadia, Calif., of lung cancer,
at the age of 80. ●
EL
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95
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CLASS NOTES ALSO APPEARS ONLINE. READ NEWS
ABOUT EACH GRADUATE AT tfm.usc.edu/classnotes
SEND US YOUR NEWS AT [email protected]››
When U.S. labor secretary Hilda Solis MPA
’81 was looking for internship opportuni-
ties after her fi rst semester in USC’s Master
of Public Administration (MPA) program, a
Trojan alum pulled out his Rolodex and gave
her some names to contact. As a result, she
landed an internship in the White House
Offi ce for Hispanic Affairs under the Carter
administration – her fi rst experience in
Washington, D.C.
Today, she heads the U.S. Department
of Labor, the second-largest enforcement
agency in the federal government charged with providing enforcement and protection in the
workplace. Before becoming the fi rst Hispanic woman to hold a permanent Cabinet post, Solis
was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives – serving from 2001 to 2009 in California’s
32nd Congressional District, which includes East Los Angeles and parts of the San Gabriel Valley.
The Trojan Family remains an important part of her network. In November, Solis returned to
campus to accept the Robert P. Biller Award for Exemplary Public Service. The award is named
after the late USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development (SPPD) dean and longtime admin-
istrator who led the school when Solis graduated.
Before his passing last August, Biller had remarked on Solis’ ascent from community college
trustee to congresswoman to Cabinet secretary. “By learning how politics and bureaucracy and
public policy issues work, and then immediately translating that to a very constructive career of
action, she has benefi tted not just [her] constituents, but the rest of us,” he said.
During her time as a graduate student at USC, Solis built close bonds with her classmates
from the MPA program – bonds that continue to this day. “Some of my best friends are from my
program here. Those friends have been supporting me much of my political career.”
And vice versa. “My classmates have done great, good things, too,” Solis says. “They are mak-
ing signifi cant contributions in whatever positions they hold. It isn’t just my story. It’s the story of
all my MPA classmates. We are all working hard to make the world a better place.”
Working hard, indeed. Immediately upon taking offi ce in February 2009 – at the height of the
fi nancial crisis – Solis had to grapple with the grim statistic of Americans losing 800,000 jobs
every month. She quickly began investing in training for “green” jobs and health and allied-health
training – two sectors of the collapsed economy that were actually growing.
Solis noted there was some fear in local communities about dealing with the federal
government. One of her primary concerns was how to engage people who had been critically
underrepresented in terms of access to job training programs. “Part of the process was building
bridges and reestablishing ourselves as a Department of Labor that would protect workers and
put workers fi rst,” Solis says. “That’s a change, and it’s still hard.”
She undertook a comprehensive strategic plan that reached out to members of Congress
and into local communities. “People who do best in public administration are people who come
in with an open mind, gather information, adapt to what they learn and make decisions.”
Asked what her message would be to current SPPD students, Solis says: “You’re going to
keep learning and changing. You’re going to keep moving forward and adapt and learn new
things. And whatever you learn, don’t be selfi sh. Share it!”
J A N P E T E R S O N
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 41
alumni profi le ’81
A Love of Labor
PH
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about the experience for an article in
International Travel News.
John Tumpak MBA ’68 of Reseda, Calif., is
a jazz journalist who specializes in writing
about the big band era. His book, When
Swing Was the Thing: Personality Profiles of the
Big Band Era, along with oral history inter-
views, have been archived at the Smithso-
nian Institution in Washington, D.C.
1 9 7 0 s
Ronald Edward Brown PhD ’72 was hon-
ored with the 2011 Richard W. Hamming
Annual Faculty Award for Interdisciplinary
Achievement from the Naval Postgraduate
School in Monterey, Calif., where he is a
research professor of physics. Previously,
he worked for 40 years in the aerospace
industry.
Pat Nolan ’72, JD ’75, director of Jus-
tice Fellowship, received an award and
a $10,000 grant from the Freda Utley
Foundation in recognition for outstanding
work for criminal justice reform. He lives in
Leesburg, Va.
James E. Nuzum MPA ’72 of Sonora, Calif.,
serves as vice chair of the Tuolumne County
Historic Preservation Review Commission.
For the past four years, he has co-chaired
the subcommittee that plans the annual
historic preservation conference.
Diane Rusling Becket ’74, PhD ’96 received
the Barbara Conrad Leadership Award in
Durango, Colo., for her volunteer work
with Leadership La Plata and various com-
munity and nonprofi t organizations.
BJ (Hateley) Gallagher ’76 of Los Angeles
published her 25th book, If God is Your
Co-Pilot, Switch Seats, a scrapbook of stories,
poems and words of inspiration about the
gifts of spiritual surrender.
William Dickerman JD ’77 is a principal
at the Los Angeles-based Dickerman &
Associates, a law practice focused on busi-
ness and real estate litigations, as well as
personal injury matters.
Wes Kenney ’78, a music professor at
Colorado State University, began his ninth
season as music director and conductor of
the Fort Collins Symphony. He has been
USC vs. Arizona State
Saturday, September 24
USC vs. CAL
Thursday, October 13
USC vs. Notre Dame
Saturday, October 22
USC vs. Colorado
Friday, November 4
USC vs. OregonSaturday, November 19
(no pep rally or tailgate)
JOIN THE USC ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Turn your weekends into Weekenders at
� ve exciting away games across the country.
Make your reservations today!
2011 FOOTBALL
WEEKENDERS
for pep rallies, tailgates and more at the
For reservations and complete Weekender
package information, call (213) 740-2300 or visit
http://alumni.usc.edu/football
Fight On!
The 2011 Weekenders are co-hosted by the USC Alumni Clubs of Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago and Colorado.
David K. Hansen ’85 dreamed of opening
a restaurant, but fate had something else
in store. After graduating from the USC
Marshall School of Business, he spent 12
years in the Marine Corps, and later as a
civilian, spearheaded the successful Mine
Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle
program, which is estimated to have saved
thousands of American lives in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
Restaurant dreams notwithstanding,
Hansen already had his eye on military service when he entered USC in 1981 and joined the
Naval Reserve Offi cers Training Corps.
“We drilled every morning on Child’s Way at 6:30 a.m.,” he recalls fondly. “I also worked as a
security guard every night at the University Village, so I was tired.”
Though he majored in business administration, and did well, Hansen struggled with statistics,
barely earning a passing grade. Little did he realize the irony in that.
“The day we tossed our hats in the air, we promptly went over to basic training in Quantico
[Va.] and got our commissions,” he says. Hansen saw his fi rst tour of duty in Okinawa, Japan,
where he learned all about “the business-end of acquisitions for the Department of Defense.” He
procured equipment ranging from fi rearms to optics, and enjoyed it so much that he stayed in
the Corps until 1997.
Once out of uniform, he accepted a civilian position with the Corps and eventually advanced
to program manager for acquisitions – the highest level in his fi eld. Along the way, Hansen also
entered graduate school at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C. This is
where the irony comes in.
“I remember in one meeting, some business people were presenting stats to us. I hated stats
as an undergrad, but here I was whipping out my old textbook to decide about an acquisition,”
Hansen says proudly. He went on to earn two master’s degrees, one in business administration,
the other in national resource strategy.
In 2006, secretary of defense Robert Gates asked Hansen to help lead an urgent new pro-
gram. “Those were the days in Iraq when we were experiencing a lot of Humvees getting blown
up on the road” by improvised explosive devices, he recalls. “Secretary Gates called on us to
develop a strategy to quickly procure and fi eld MRAP vehicles, which raise a soldier higher off
the ground and defl ect any blast to the sides of the vehicle.
Time, as every businessman knows, is money. In this case, time was American lives.
“You hear a lot about programs like the Joint Strike Fighter taking 15 to 20 years. Our pro-
gram mobilized the trucks within 144 days,” Hansen says. He managed six manufacturers, 300
government employees and 500 support contractors to complete each vehicle. In all, he helped
oversee the deployment of 27,000 MRAP vehicles.
For his accomplishment, Hansen received the Department of Defense’s Meritorious Civilian
Service Medal, among the highest honors awarded to civilians by the armed forces.
“The Marshall School totally paved the way for this,” Hansen says. “The best part is getting feed-
back from the soldiers in the theatre, and hearing them say how much we’ve helped save lives.”
Maybe it’s just as well he never opened that restaurant.
L I Z S E G A L
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 43
named Music Educator of the Year by the
Colorado Chapter of the American String
Teachers Association and won the fi rst-ever
Varna International Conduction Competition.
Cliff Goldstein MPA ’79 was elected presi-
dent of the American Jewish Committee’s
Los Angeles region. He is founder and
managing principal of The GPI Companies
and P3 Ventures, and is a board member of
USC Hillel.
Udo Wahn MD ’79, an OB-GYN in Del
Mar, Calif., wrote Cabo and Coral Reef
Explorers, a children’s picture book that
highlights the importance of preserving
ocean resources. He serves as a volun-
teer for the Surfrider Foundation and is a
member of the Society of Children’s Book
Writers and Illustrators.
1 9 8 0 s
George Waxter ’81 of Walkersville, Md., is
a physician who spent time in Hawaii and
Tasmania working in outpatient clinics
and teaching trainee physicians and medi-
cal students. He is active in ocean swim-
ming races and rode the Sea Gull Century
100-mile bike race.
George J. Chambers MS ’86, a retired
defense systems engineer and a U.S. Navy
veteran, is completing his fourth book,
World War II as Seen Through the Eyes of
United States Cruisers, a day-to-day story
about the 83 cruisers that served in six of
the seven world’s oceans. He lives in West-
minister, Calif.
Chengyu Fu MS ’86 was appointed chair-
man of Sinopec, also known as China
Petrochemical Corp., the seventh-largest
corporation in the world and Asia’s biggest
refi ner. Previously, he served as president
and chairman of China National Offshore
Oil Corp.
David Williams MS ’87 accepted an assistant
professor position at the University of
Maryland School of Dentistry’s Baltimore
College of Dental Surgery. He leaves his
private practice of more than 22 years to
pursue an academic career in the Depart-
ment of Oncology and Diagnostic Sciences.
Henry “Hank” Malanowski MS ’88 retired
from the U.S. Marine Corps after 28 years
alumni profi le ’85
Saving Lives
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NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 45
infl uence of ancient Mayan art in the West.
He is a fi lmmaker, curator and professor in
the Intercollegiate Media Studies program
of the Claremont Colleges.
Thomas A. Long ’91 is a commander in the
U.S. Navy, who completed his tour as com-
manding offi cer of VR-55, a Navy C-130
squadron located at Naval Air Station Point
Mugu, Calif. His next assignment is with
the 7th Fleet Staff in Yokosuka, Japan.
Ellisen Turner ’97 was named a “Rising
Star” and one of fi ve intellectual property
attorneys under 40 to watch in the nation
by Law360. She is a partner at Irell &
Manella in Los Angeles.
Michael Gallelli MA ’98 of Langley, Wash.,
published “Boomers, Technology and
Health: Consumers Taking Charge!”
a research report on baby boomer aging
and tech-enabled health products for
personal use.
2 0 0 0 s
Shruti Joshi ’00 was named a principal at
consulting fi rm Altman Vilandrie & Co.
Previously, she served as executive director
for consumer marketing for Verizon Com-
munications. She lives in New York City.
Diana Bald MBA ’01 was appointed senior
vice president-director of marketing at ID
Media, a media services company based in
New York City. She previously served as
vice president of business development at
Univision. She is a board director for the
Advertising Women of New York.
Robert Frear MM ’03 was awarded tenure
and a promotion to associate professor at Cali-
fornia State University, Long Beach, where
he serves as director of brass music studies.
Bret Butler ’04 of Woodinville, Wash., was
recognized by the National Association
Experience
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of service as a professional logistician
and was awarded the Legion of Merit. He
works in AT&T’s Supply Chain and Fleet
Operations organization in Lorton, Va.
Lisa Bolton Singelyn ’88 was appointed
director of social media and communica-
tions for Counterintuity LLC, a marketing,
social media, design and communications
agency in Burbank, Calif. She is a board
member of the National Charity League.
Randy Bouverat ’89 of Los Angeles created
Gether, a peer-to-peer polling app, and
GetherData for marketers to analyze their
social media efforts by demographic and
ZIP code.
1 9 9 0 s
Jesse Lerner MA ’91 of Los Angeles wrote
The Maya of Modernism: Art, Architecture, and
Film, a study that explores the enduring
A L U M N I
William C. “Mickey” Anderson
’41, Orange County, Calif.; April 26,
at the age of 93
Eldon Davis
’42, West Hills, Calif.; April 22,
at the age of 94
James C. “Jim” Creswell
’45, Fullerton, Calif.; May 13,
at the age of 86
Charles Laufer
’48, Northridge, Calif.; April 5,
at the age of 87
Daniel L. Rothstein
’49, MS ’50,
Sherman Oaks, Calif.; May 25,
at the age of 87
Albert A. Johnston
’50, Boise, Iowa; Jan. 7,
at the age of 86
Edward Joseph Lupiani
’50, Claremont, Calif.; Nov. 17, 2009,
at the age of 84
William E. McCroskey
’50, Corona del Mar, Calif.; Jan. 4, 2009,
at the age of 83
Jack B. Kirven
’51, Irvine, Calif.; March 21,
at the age of 83
Albert C. “Al” Hansen
’53, Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.; May 24,
at the age of 90
William “Bill” Garrison
’55, St. Simons Island, Ga.; Sept. 14, 2010,
at the age of 77
John Davies
’56, San Diego; May 20,
at the age of 76
John Walter “Walt” Quist
’58, MS ’76, Oxnard, Calif.; Dec. 21,
at the age of 74
Monroe Nash
’73, San Diego; March 28,
at the age of 61
46 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
of Realtors as part of its Class of 2011 “30
Under 30” award in Realtor Magazine.
Previously, he worked for Countrywide
and IndyMac.
George Shaw ’04 released a soundtrack
album for Agents of Secret Stuff, a fi lm on
YouTube starring Ryan Higa and directed
by Wong Fu Productions that has amassed
more than 10 million views to date. He
lives in Los Angeles.
Benhoor Hakim ’05 works as an assistant at
Dickerman & Associates in Los Angeles,
a law fi rm focused on defamation, bad
faith insurance claims and personal injury
matters.
Annam Manthiram MPW ’05 of Rio Ran-
cho, N.M., released her fi rst novel, After
the Tsunami, a story about a young boy who
is orphaned after a tsunami devastates his
coastal village in India.
Beaumont Shapiro ’05 was ordained as a
rabbi by the Hebrew Union College-Jew-
ish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles.
He serves as a rabbi at Wilshire Boulevard
Temple.
Tanya White ’05 qualifi ed for the National
Volleyball League’s main draw tournament
in Baltimore. She also represents Panama
and helped her team secure a silver medal
in the fi rst round of qualifi cations for the
2012 Olympics in London.
Louise Bale MFT ’07 passed the California
board licensing exam and is now a licensed
marriage and family therapist. She works as
a psychotherapist at St. Anne’s, a housing
program for young mothers, and also has a
private practice in West Los Angeles.
Eric Stanton ’09 is vice president of sales
for Jacob Bromwell Inc., one of the oldest
housewares companies in North America.
He lives in Los Angeles.
2 0 1 0 s
Sean Bandawat ’10 of Phoenix is work-
ing to revitalize housewares manufacturer
Jacob Bromwell Inc., where he serves as
president. He also is founder of RateMy-
Fraternity.com, which gives college stu-
dents a free inside look at more than 1,500
fraternity chapters nationwide.
M A R R I A G E S
Tracy Leigh Trenham ’87 and James Mitchell
Davis
Ramin Zolfagari ’97 and Sharon Wie.
B I R T H S
Jonathan Boggs ’83 and Marie Casey, a
daughter, Veronica Julianne
Seth Ford Gilman ’88, MBA ’02 and Susie
(Forte) Gilman ’90, a son, Tate Ford.
He joins brother, Everett, 3. He is the
grandson of Nelson Gilman ’59, MS ’61
and nephew of Justine Gilman ’85, MA ’87,
EdD ’97
Gregory Tonkovich ’94, MS ’01 and Jaclyn
(Talarico) Tonkovich MA ’01, a daughter,
Taitlyn Sarina. She joins brother, Colten,
2. She is the great-great-granddaughter
of Ruth (Dallman) Launer ’16, great-grand-
daughter of Earl Harris ’39 and Eunice
(Launer) Harris ’39, great-grandniece of
Ruthmarie (Launer) Gruber ’41, grand-
daughter of Janet (Harris) Tonkovich ’65,
grandniece of Kathleen (Harris) Windsor ’66,
and niece of Diane (Tonkovich) Miller ’92,
Matthew Tonkovich ’92 and Babe (Foster)
Tonkovich ’04
Heather (Meylor) Dibblee ’95, MHA ’97
and Harrison Dibblee, a daughter, Han-
nah Grace. She joins brothers Rian and
Brandon
Kimberly Bliss ’96 and Ceide Zapparoni, a
son, Felix Zapparoni Bliss
Michelle (Silver) Brunet MA ’97 and Michael
Brunet, a daughter, Madeleine Sophia. She
is the granddaughter of Robert Silver MBA
’70 and niece of Laurie (Silver) Bremer ’97
January Von Luft ’98 and Scott Von Luft ’98,
a daughter, Juliet Day. She joins brother,
Baron Paul, 3
Todd Campbell ’00 and Jennifer Baughman,
a son, Brendan
Adam Rabin Dalesandro ’01 and Deborah
Derickson Dalesandro, a son, Lincoln
Rabin. He is the grandson of Jeffrey C.
Derickson DDS ’78.
in memoriam
READ THE OBITUARIES
OF THESE MEMBERS OF
THE TROJAN FAMILY AT
tfm.usc.edu/memoriam
››
Herman Ostrow DDS ’45,
a graduate of the Ostrow
School of Dentistry and the
benefactor whose name the
school shares, died April 23
in Beverly Hills, Calif. He
was 88.
A lifelong resident of
Southern California, Ostrow
was born in East Los
Angeles and grew up in the
Belvedere neighborhood,
graduating from James A.
Garfi eld High School.
After receiving his Doctor
of Dental Surgery degree from USC, he
served in the U.S. Army Dental Corps
before returning to Los Angeles to treat
patients in private practice. For 17 years,
Ostrow practiced dentistry full- and part-
time, before entering the Los Angeles
construction and real estate market.
During a 2009 visit to the Griffi th
Observatory, Ostrow saw how
private gifts helped an edu-
cational institution grow and
develop. This served as the
inspiration behind his
$35 million gift to the School
of Dentistry in 2010, the
largest gift ever made by an
individual to a dental school.
“We are grateful and proud
that an alumnus of our school
has chosen us to carry his leg-
acy,” said Avishai Sadan, dean
of the School of Dentistry, at
the announcement ceremony
on Jan. 20, 2010.
“I’m proud to give my support and
name to the USC School of Dentistry, an
institution with a well-earned reputation for
excellence,” Ostrow said of his gift. “I am
thrilled that my legacy will provide tomor-
row’s talented professionals with opportu-
nities to achieve great successes.” ●
John Hospers, professor
emeritus of philosophy at
the USC Dornsife College
of Letters, Arts and Sciences
and the Libertarian Party’s
fi rst presidential nominee,
died June 12 in Los Angeles.
He was 93.
“Of all the dimensions
of John’s life … he loved
teaching the most,” said
Kevin Robb, professor of
philosophy at USC Dornsife.
“The classroom was where
he really shined, and he told
me many times it was the most satisfying
aspect of his life.”
After receiving a Ph.D. in philosophy
from Columbia University in 1946, Hos-
pers taught philosophy and humanities
at several universities before coming to
USC in 1968 as chair of the university’s
School of Philosophy. Widely known for
his contributions to the fi eld of
philosophy, he taught classes
on epistemology, metaphys-
ics, ethics, aesthetics and the
philosophy of law at USC.
Hospers also was well-
known for his role in the
Libertarian Party movement.
His beliefs in human rights
and human freedom led the
newly formed party to nomi-
nate him and running mate,
Theodora Nathan, at its fi rst
convention in 1972. Running
on a platform in support of
limited government controls and affi rming
the right of individuals, they received one
electoral vote.
Hospers published on various topics in
philosophy, including Meaning and Truth
in the Arts, Law and the Market and Human
Conduct. He served as editor of The Person-
alist, The Monist and Liberty magazines. ●
Herman Ostrow
John Hospers
NOW ONLINE: tfm.usc.edu 47
Kam Kuwata
’75, Venice, Calif.; April 11,
at the age of 57
Diane Caswell Coluzzi
’81, MPA ’82, Irvine, Calif.; March 28,
at the age of 52
David John Fulton Marriner
’06, Gardena, Calif.; Jan. 1.
FACULTY, STAFF & FRIENDS
Val Clark
DDS ’57, La Cañada and
Newport Beach, Calif.; July 2,
at the age of 79
William H. Crawford Jr.
’58, DDS ’62, MS ’64,
Templeton, Calif.; June 18,
at the age of 74
Harris Goldman
DMA ’71, Los Angeles; May 13,
at the age of 78
Olaf Helmer
Anacortes, Wash.; April 14,
at the age of 100
Kay Mills
Santa Monica, Calif.; Jan. 13,
at the age of 69
Gunnar Nielsson
Seal Beach, Calif.; July 10,
at the age of 77
Alan J. Rowe
Los Angeles; May 19,
at the age of 87
Helen Rowe
Los Angeles; May 13,
at the age of 81
Laura Ziskin
’73, Santa Monica, Calif.; June 12,
at the age of 61. ●
8. First introduced as an Islamic coin in the
late 7th century by Abd al-Malik, the fifth
caliph of the Umayyad dynasty, this mon-
etary unit remains common in Middle East-
ern countries today.
9. Second prize in the world’s-most-worth-
less-money sweepstakes goes to a modern
African nation. It was losing half its value
every 24 hours at its inflationary peak.
10. About 2.5 percent of all the gold ever
refined throughout human history is held in
a fortified vault at this U.S. Army base south
of Louisville, Ky.
11. At least three major Asian currencies are
derived from a Chinese character meaning
“round shape.” ●
1. From China to Thailand, trade used to
be conducted in this ancient unit of weight.
Roughly equal to 1.3 ounces of silver
(though different lands used different stan-
dards), it served as international currency
across Asia right up to the 1930s.
2. This old European currency shows up in
Shakespearean oaths at moments of crisis –
for example, when Hamlet mistakenly kills
Polonius behind a curtain or when Shylock
learns his daughter has eloped with her lover.
3. This currency was based on a pound of
silver. Introduced in Europe by Charle-
magne, it derives from the Latin word for
“pound” – a root still evident in the abbre-
viation “lb” and the symbol £ used to repre-
sent the British pound sterling.
4. An East European nation set the world-
record for hyperinflation in 1946, when its
treasury printed currency in denominations
of 100 million and even 1 billion – leading to
the spectacle of worthless bank notes litter-
ing the gutters of the capital.
5. Lucy Pickens appears on the $100 bill of
this defunct currency.
6. In 1992, this Hungarian-born currency
trader sold short more than $10 billion worth
of pounds sterling, earning him the label
“the man who broke the Bank of England.”
7. Developed in Mesopotamia around 3000
B.C., this currency corresponded to a spe-
cific amount of barley. Its etymology traces
back to the ancient Hebrew “to weigh.”
Submit your answers by Dec. 15 online, by mail to
The Last Word c/o USC Trojan Family Magazine,
University of Southern California, Los Angeles,
CA 90089-7790, or by e-mail at [email protected].
CONTEST RULES Identify the modern-day Croesus of clue 6, the iconic building of clue 10 and the
currencies referenced in the remaining clues, and you could be rolling in cash. The five best responses
will receive $30 gift certificates from Amazon. If more than five perfect entries are received, the winners
will be drawn by lot.
With USC kicking off a $6 billion campaign, green eyeshades are
suddenly all the rage. Numismatists and armchair economists,
we invite you to test your knowledge of monetary minutiae.
SUBMIT ANSWERS OR VIEW
PREVIOUS CONTESTS AT
tfm.usc.edu/lastword››
MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND
48 USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE autumn 2011
last word
ILL
US
TR
AT
ION
BY
HA
NK
FIS
CH
ER
USCA legacy of the USC Mexican American Alumni Association since 1973
Latino AlumniA S S O C I AT I O N Get involved. Call us at (213) 740-4735.
[email protected] || www.usc.edu/latinoalumni
DREAM.Be part of their dream.
Contribute to the legacy.
Every contribution transforms a
student’s tomorrow.
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