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USC chronicle, vol. 20, no. 19 (2001 Feb. 5)
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USC chronicle, vol. 20, no. 19 (2001 Feb. 5)
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Content
by Gilien Silsby
H
e was an ambitious
account executive,
overseeing challeng-
ing projects, manag-
ing several workers and earning a
lucrative salary.
Despite his success in the
business world, Ron Sparling, 46,
felt something was missing.
“There was a definite void,”
Sparling said. “It always seemed
like I was swimming against the
tide because I didn’t have my
b a c h e l o r ’s degree or my MBA.”
SEVERAL YEARS AGO, after be-
ing diagnosed with HIV , Sparling
set a goal for himself: get into
USC by 2000. He attended Long
Beach City College before USC
accepted him this past fall,
awarding him a Dean’s T r a n s f e r
S c h o l a r s h i p .
“Instead of just waiting to die,
my doctor urged me to get on
continued on page 4
February 5, 2001
Inside
USC IN THE N EWS 3
V OL UNTE ER AW A R D S 4
C A L E N D A R 6
IMMIG RA NT STUD Y 7
C h r o n i c l e
Published for the USC Faculty & Staff
V O L U M E 2 0 N U M B E R 1 9
continued on page 7
Ron Sparling, 46, an undergraduate majoring in English, studies for fi n a l s
at home in Long Beach with the help of his dog, Alia, a boxer mix.
U S C ’s Office of Job
Development has been
hard at work for 30 years
5
Journalist A.J. Langguth
discusses the “desperation” of
A m e r i c a ’s involvement in
V i e t n a m
8
Published for USC Students, Faculty & S t a f f
http://uscnews.usc.edu
Seasoned by Life Experiences, Mature Students
T urn Their Attention to Higher Education
About 100 USC undergraduates range
in age from 28 to 65 years old.
Weemes Students Help
L.A. Angel Project T ake Flight
YOUNGSTERS f rom L.B.
Weemes Avenue Elementary School
– a USC Family of Five school –
used collagé techniques to trans-
f o rm one of the many angels that
will be unveiled throughout Los
Angeles Feb. 14.
The Weemes angel is one of
400 celestial beings that will be
showcased for the city-wide
p roject, A Community of Angels.
The 6-foot-4-inch angel, which
teams of Weemes students worked
on Jan. 18 and Jan. 19, is sponsore d
by the Los Angeles Police
D e p a rtment.
The fib e rglass-polyester angel
will be unveiled at Parker Center.
The Community of Angels pr o j e c t
will end with the auction of each
angel. The proceeds will be divided
between the Volunteers of America
and Catholic Big Brothers. n by Sharon Stewart
A DOZEN STUDENTS mingled with as many faculty
members on a recent Monday afternoon, and in the
process discovered that their professors are regular human
b e i n g s .
At the Student Senate’s first Alternative Office Hours
get-together Jan. 22 – an experiment designed to improve
academic culture outside the classroom – Sarah T alei, a
junior majoring in business, learned, for instance, that
political science professor Richard Dekmejian – who reg-
ularly comments on world affairs for major media outlets –
has a quirky sense of humor.
“ Y ou look like a Valley girl,” Dekmejian told T alei after
she said she commutes to school each day. And Justin
Weissman, a junior majoring in political science, learned
that Dekmejian was open to a suggestion for a low-cost
party for his undergraduate students.
“ You could have a potluck where everyone brings his
own food,” Weissman told Dekmejian when the Middle
East expert said he couldn’t afford to host a function for
the 200 students in his political science class each semes-
t e r. “That’s a good idea,” Dekmejian responded with
interest. “We’ve solved one problem.”
During the 12:30 to 3 p.m. reception at the Upstairs
Commons Garden Court, students and faculty shared sto-
ries about their backgrounds and talked about the recent
presidential elections, sports, academic expectations and a
host of other subjects.
In October and December last year, the subject of how
to boost the quality of intellectual life at USC was
Students, Profs
Chew the Fat and
Find Commonality
IRENE FER T I K
through Lewis’ work as an attor-
ney and CP A. Lewis, who passed
the California Bar examination
without attending law school,
retired from Lewis Homes in the
m i d - 1 9 9 0 s .
His firm was the country’s
l a rgest privately owned home
builder when Kaufman & Broad
purchased it. Lewis won numer-
ous awards, including Builder of
the Year in 1987 from Pro-
fessional Builder magazine. He
was inducted into the National
Association of Home Builders
Hall of Fame in 1988.
Lewis believed his company
should be involved in communi-
ties where it built homes; he
worked with dozens of Little
League teams and scholarship
programs and funded numerous
parks, including Lewis Park in
Claremont and the Lewis Family
Park in Las Vegas. He also volun-
teered his time on many boards
and commissions and devoted
much of his time to teaching
accounting, finance, taxation and
2 UN I V E R S I T Y O F S O U TH E R N C A L I F O R N I A C H R O N I C L E February 5, 2001
E d i t o r
Christine E. Shade
Associate Editor
Melissa Payton
W r i t e r s
Matthew Blakeslee Bob Calverley
Chrissie Castro Alicia Di Rado
Zsa Zsa Gershick Inga Kiderra
Brenda Maceo Jon Nalick
Lori Oliwenstein Gilien Silsby
Sharon Stewart Mary Ellen Stumpf
Jon W e i n e r
Staff Photographer
Irene Fertik
Technical Support
Glenn K. Seki
Executive Director, USC News
Alfred G. Kildow
Vice President, University Public Relations
Martha Harris
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Home Builder, Philanthropist Ralph M. Lewis, 81
H O M E - B U I L D I N G pioneer and
philanthropist Ralph M. Lewis
died Jan. 11, at San Antonio
Community Hospital in Upland,
Calif. He was 81.
A self-educated attorney
turned builder, Lewis was one of
a handful of building industry
titans, including John D. Lusk,
Eli Broad and William Lyon, who
shaped the housing market in
p o s t - World War II Southern
California. His Upland-based
company built more than 60,000
homes and apartments, with as
many as 30,000 of them in the
Inland Empire.
In 1995, Lewis and his wife,
G o l d y, gave $5 million to USC
toward establishing the School of
P o l i c y , Planning, and Develop-
m e n t ’s Ralph and Goldy Lewis
Hall. Located on the southeast
side of the University Park cam-
pus, Lewis Hall – which houses
the academic and administrative
programs of the school as well as
U S C ’s Lusk Center for Real
Estate – was dedicated in August
1999. The $10.6 million, three-
story building has two large lec-
ture halls with data and electrical
connections at each seat, and
three studio rooms designed for
small groups and collaborative
l e a r n i n g .
“Ralph Lewis was a great role
model for real estate profession-
als everywhere, and especially to
his students here at USC,” said
Alan Kreditor, senior vice presi-
dent for university advancement
and former executive director of
the Lusk Center. “He showed us
that modesty, honesty and a keen
intellect were no barriers to suc-
cess. He also taught the value of
integrity and hard work. In his
quiet and unassuming way, he
inspired everyone to do better.”
Lewis formed Lewis Homes
with his wife, Goldy, in 1955 and
raised his four sons in a home his
company built in Claremont.
His sons continue to run
Lewis Operating Co., which
builds apartments and shopping
centers in California and Nevada.
In an undated photo, Ralph Lewis
teaches at USC.
real estate at local universities,
including USC, where he men-
tored students of the Lusk
C e n t e r ’s master of real estate pro-
gram one-on-one. Colleagues
there described him as “extraor-
dinarily generous.”
“He always had time to meet
with students, to guide them and
to answer their questions. They
loved him,” said Marilyn Ellis,
director of marketing and special
projects for the Lusk Center.
Lewis, a UCLA alumnus, is
survived by his wife; sons
Richard, Robert, Roger and
Randall; and seven grandchil-
dren. n Kaufman & Broad bought the
c o m p a n y ’s home-building assets
– worth more than $685 million –
and the name Lewis Homes in
1 9 9 8 .
The Los Angeles-born entre-
preneur was a champion of fair
housing and worked to build
a ffordable homes for fi r s t - t i m e
buyers of all ethnic groups from
Upland to Sacramento to Las
Vegas and Reno.
“Ralph Lewis was an early
proponent of fair and equal
access to affordable housing,”
said Stuart Gabriel, director of
U S C ’s Lusk Center for Real
Estate. “He will be remembered
for his outstanding achievements
in the provision thereof through-
out Southern California.”
In 1988, Lewis was appointed
the Lusk Center’s first developer
in residence.
RALPH AND GOLDY Lewis en-
tered California’s booming hous-
ing market in the mid-1950s after
meeting many in the business
3 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 C H R O N I C L E February 5, 2001
q Navigating the waters of for-
eign corporate cultures can be
t r i c k y, said international business
expert Kathleen Rear d o n in a
Dec. 2 Associated P r e s s s t o r y.
“Some say, ‘Why must [Ameri-
cans] always make the adjust-
ment?”’ Reardon said. “But
when there’s bound to be some
c o n flict during negotiations, why
start out with a mistake that
makes someone uneasy with
you?” Giving an example, Rear-
don added, “If you give a clock in
China, it is associated with death
or the termination of a relation-
ship,” she said. “By giving some-
one a watch, you demonstrate
your own ignorance.”
q Interactive media expert M a r k
P e s c e, author of “The Playful
World: How Technology Is
T ransforming Our Imagination,”
was featured in a Dec. 11 C o p l ey
News S e rvice story on the new
breed of “partly animate, partly
inanimate” toys. “Children’s toys
echo the way in which the world
is going,’’ Pesce said. “Our kids
will be able to move things
around on the other side of the
world. They’ll be able to put
their eyes and ears anywhere in
the world.” Pesce and his re-
search caught the attention of a
number of media outlets this fall,
including K P P C’s “AirT alk,” the
New Y o rk T i m e s, San Diego Union-
Tri b u n e, O t tawa Citize n a n d
s a l o n . c o m.
q In a Dec. 20 (Salt Lake City)
D e s eret Ne w s story about Mexi-
c o ’s new president, international
relations expert Denise Dr e s s e r
said, “Vicente Fox has to deliver,
and a certain part of that delivery
process depends on a growth of
the Mexican economy.”
q Pianist Daniel Pollack w a s
interviewed for the Dec. 28 edi-
tion of the V e n tu ra County St a r i n
connection with his performance
at a local New Y e a r ’s Eve “Night
in Vienna” concert. Pollack
recalled one of the highlights of
his career: playing T c h a i k o v s k y ’s
piano at the composer’s home in
Russia. “It was unbelievable to
be at the piano where he com-
posed so many of his pieces,” he
said.
q B l ack Enter p ri s e m a g a z i n e
placed USC 27th out of the T o p
50 schools it recommends for
African-American students. In
the January 2001 issue, C o r l i s s
B e n n e t t, director of USC’s
Center for Black Cultural and
Student Affairs said, “Students
need to feel like they matter and
that they belong.”
q In a Jan. 1 Pittsburgh P o s t -
G a ze t te article about the pressure
directors are under for films to
succeed, culture critic L e o
B r a u d y said, “Studios want to
have someone who can run a
movie,” he said. “It’s experience
[that counts].”
q The Jan. 11 L o s
A n geles Times f e a t u r e d
basketball star B r i a n
S c a l a b r i n e, a hist o r y
m a j o r, in its W e e k e n d
C a lendar section. Scala-
b r i n e , an All-Pac 10
c e n t e r, gave his picks
for the “My Favorite
Weekend” column. He
d e s c r i b e d himself as “a
kind of a laid-back
guy” who found malls
and the movies with
his girlfriend a better
choice than Sunset
Boulevard clubs. The 6-foot-9,
250-pound player told the col-
umn he likes to frequent La
Barca on Vermont Avenue. “It’s a
Mexican food place near campus.
… I get the Super Macho, their
biggest burrito,” he said, which
he described as so huge even he
has trouble finishing it.
q In the Jan. 12 Los A n geles T i m e s,
culture critic Todd Boyd c o m-
mented on Hollywood’s latest
interracial love story, “Save the
Last Dance.” “Can Hollywood
tell this type of story without the
dancing?” the article asked. “I
think America is generally appre-
hensive when it comes to dealing
with the issue of race,” Boyd said.
“Music and dance in American
culture are linked to African-
Americans, and so this is a conve-
nient way for Hollywood – in a
surrogate way – to address the
issue through popular culture.”
q Education expert L a w re n c e
O. Picus was quoted in a Jan. 13
New Y o rk T i m e s story on a New
York Supreme Court ruling
ordering more equitable school
financing systems. Picus said
T exas’ school financing system
was one of the most successful
and could serve as a model for
other states to follow. “It’s an
excellent system of equity , ”
Picus said. “They’ve lar g e l y
eliminated the differences in
spending that result from dif f e r-
ences in property wealth.” In a
similar story in the New Y o rk
Ti m e s on Jan. 14, Picus said that
despite the success of a number
of education-finance court cases,
in no state have lawmakers been
them to make him an example.
“If it had been anyone other than
Milken, he wouldn’t have been
prosecuted,” Shapiro said. “At
best, he should have had civil, not
criminal, penalties imposed.”
q The Jan. 23 Los An geles Ti m e s
obituary of philanthropist, insur-
ance pioneer and USC benefac-
tor L e o n a rd Davis quoted E d-
w a rd L. Schneider, dean of
U S C ’s Leonard Davis School of
G e r o n t o l o g y, which was estab-
lished through a gift from Davis
in 1975. “Leonard Davis made an
extraordinary difference in the
lives of older adults. His loss is
immeasurable,” said Schneider.
Among a suite of short eulogies
that ran in the Jan. 21 New Y o rk
Ti m e s, Schneider wrote, “The
graduates from this school are,
and will be, an ongoing legacy to
Leonard and his beloved late
wife, Sophie, who, through their
generous foresight, have benefit-
ed us all as we age.”
q The Jan. 27 issue of New
S c i e n t i s t featured an article on
research into a newly discovered
class of nerve cell in the primate
brain called “mirror neurons”
that may be the key to under-
standing how language and com-
plex human culture evolved.
Whenever we see someone
perform an action, our mirror
neurons mimic that action men-
t a l l y. This capacity enhances
primates’ ability to learn from
and empathize with each other,
and, according to brain expert
Michael Arbib, made our pre-
human ancestors “language
r e a d y.” n USC IN THE NEWS For more ITN and Quick Take items, go to http://uscnews.usc.edu/, click on USC T o d a y, then scroll down to About USC people.
A Jan. 14 Los An geles T i m e s article gave Foshay Learning Center
P r i n c i p a l H o w a rd Lappin kudos for turning around one of the low-
est-performing schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
In the lengthy profile, Lappin described how he approached USC
and other institutions on behalf of Foshay. USC responded by pro-
viding “free Internet access to Foshay, encouraged their MBA stu-
dents to volunteer as reading tutors (more than 100 do today), assist-
ed Lappin in setting up a dental clinic and established a program in
which USC psychiatric interns offer family counseling at Foshay . ”
Through the university’s affiliation with California Hospital, free
medical services are also now available at the school.
able to offer a swift remedy.
“The algebra of education is very
simple,” Picus said. “What makes
it complex is the politics.”
q Dean of Admission and
Financial Aid Joseph P . Allen
was quoted in a San Diego Union-
Tr i b u n e story on the gimmicks
college-bound students use to
get noticed. In the Jan. 14 article,
he said one applicant mailed him
a shoe with the note, “‘Now that
I’ve got one foot in the door’ … .
Overall, I’ve noticed this correla-
tion between people who send
us silly things and weaker
r e c o r d s . ”
q A Jan. 19 Associated Press s t o r y
on the Sundance Film Festival
and how its lineup reflects “the
age of indie eclecticism” quoted
cinema-TV Dean Elizabeth M.
D a l e y. Discussing influences on
t o d a y ’s young filmmakers, Daley
said: “They’ve all seen such a
wide variety of work. Think
about what it meant to live in a
small town in Indiana 15 years
ago, where you weren’t able to
see a lot. Now, everywhere you
turn, there’s a much wider
vocabulary of film language
a v a i l a b l e . ”
q “Michael Milken helped bring
many companies to market that
otherwise would not have been
able to,” said banking and
finance expert Alan Shapiro in a
Jan. 21 Associated P r e s s story on
the legacy of the man who built
Wall Street’s junk bond market.
Shapiro added that Milken’s
aggressive tactics may have
angered authorities, prompting
C o rre c t i o n :
A photo caption on page 4 in the Jan. 29 issue misidentified the
person gazing at the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial plaque. It
is Wade Thompson-Harper, president of USC’s Black Staff and
Faculty Caucus. We regret the error.
Marketing, Sports and Those Super Bowl Ads
Advertisers steered clear of Super Bowl MVP Ray Lewis – who had
an obstruction-of-justice guilty plea on his record – because, “He
was just far too risky,” said David Carter in the Jan. 30 Los A n ge l e s
T i m e s. Carter, a sports marketing consultant who teaches a USC
class on the business of sports, said, “Blue-chip corporations took a
pass, Disney took a pass, General Mills took a pass. Despite the
intrigue, this is an era when you can find others to better represent
your company.” A group of business graduate students convened to
watch and judge Super Bowl XXXV commercials for their sports
marketing class came out
with this verdict in the
Jan. 29 Los A n geles Ti m e s
Business section: They
w e r e n ’t impressed.
“ T h e r e ’s nothing there
that I’ll be talking about
during the coming
week,” said N a t a s h a
J o n e s, 26, from Sacra-
mento. Carter, who teaches the Business of Sports class, concurred.
“This was the least memorable batch of commercials in memory as
far as creativity,” he said. The consensus on the best of the worst
seemed to be an E-T rade spot that poked fun at failed dot-coms
and featured a chimpanzee. In a Dec. 12 Los A n geles T i m e s story on
the T exas Rangers’ signing of shortstop Alex Rodriguez for $252
million over 10 years – the largest contract in the history of sports –
Carter said, “It’s a shocking contract. The average fan won’t believe
[baseball] is in trouble if the market can sustain this kind of salary . ”
Harold Lappin and Foshay Score
More Kudos for T u r n a r o u n d
4 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 C H R O N I C L E February 5, 2001
at USC this past fall after working
for more than two decades at an
engineering firm, most recently
in an upper-management posi-
tion. T o further advance, Robison
needed a master’s degree in busi-
ness – which meant she fir s t
needed to earn her bachelor’s
d e g r e e .
“It was a major commitment
to head back to school,” Robison
said. “But I’m realizing how
much of a luxury school is. It’s
something that you can under-
stand only if you’ve been without
it for some time.”
Robison said that being with-
out a degree – and the knowl-
edge that comes with it – had left
a hole in her life. After all, never
before did she have the opportu-
nity to study Shakespeare or dis-
cuss Greek mythology or learn
F r e n c h .
“I didn’t have that solid of an
academic base,” said Robison, a
business major, who has taken a
leave of absence from the engi-
neering company she worked for.
“In business, I had to work twice
as hard as my colleagues with
degrees. Writing well was espe-
cially diffic u l t . ”
After making the decision to
pursue their degrees, the next
challenge for older under g r a d u a t-
ess is making the transition from
career to full-time student.
“Getting into the college rou-
tine was torturous at first,” said
James Ruff, 31, who came to USC
this fall after years of working as
an electrician. “Time manage-
ment skills had to be figured out.”
Sitting down for final exams
brought back memories of high
school, said Sparling, who is
majoring in English. “I was terri-
fied,” he said. “It didn’t matter
that I had been in business and
tackled a lot of other challenges.”
Robison said she doesn’t
process information as easily as
when she was a young adult.
“The things I haven’t done
for years, like calculus and alge-
braic equations, are very diffi c u l t .
I don’t think as quickly, and I
d o n ’t think that’s going to
change. It’s a sign of age.”
R u ff, who is majoring in cre-
ative writing, agrees, adding:
“When you’re young, you’re
more of a sponge.”
TAKING COURSES WITH s t u-
dents sometimes young enough
to be their own children was
another adjustment. “I say in jest
that I hope these kids don’t mind
having Dad in class,” Sparling
said. “At first it seems odd to be
with my life and do something
productive,” Sparling said. “I
knew I wanted to do something
meaningful. Going back to school
became my top priority . ”
Sparling is one of more than
100 undergraduate students rang-
ing from 28 to 65 years old who
entered USC this fall. Like
Sparling, most are transfer stu-
dents from junior colleges. Many
have given up their jobs and
dipped into their savings to be
students at USC.
They represent a small but
important faction of students,
said Joseph P . Allen, vice provost
and dean of admission and fi n a n-
cial aid.
“They are particularly moti-
vated,” Allen said. “To come
back to college at this time in
their lives takes a lot of commit-
ment. I think their younger peers
can learn a lot from their experi-
e n c e s . ”
Brenda Robison, 43, enrolled
“[For these students] to come
back to college at this time in
their lives takes a lot of
commitment. I think their
younger peers can learn a lot
from their experiences.”
– JOSEP H P. ALLEN
Older Undergraduates
continued from page 1
as old or older than
the professor and
certainly older than
the students.”
“I especially wel-
come mature stu-
dents as a valuable
presence in my class-
es because of the
insights and greater
life experience they
bring to discussions,”
said Charles E. Mc-
Kenna, professor of
chemistry in the
College of Letters,
Arts and Sciences.
“No doubt they,
themselves, are en-
e rgized by interact-
ing with young,
enthusiastic, lively
and idealistic 18- and
1 9 - y e a r-old fellow
s t u d e n t s . ”
Sparling said he learned in
city college that professors are the
ones in charge. “I hope I made all
of my major mistakes at the com-
munity college,” he said. “I was
very confrontational at first. I real-
ize now that I have to check my
ego at the door. My goal is just to
be a student and enjoy the
process of learning.”
R u ff has had an easier time
blending in with classmates, but
i s n ’t counting on a typical college
experience. “Because I’m older,
I’m not going to frat parties or
socializing. I’m strictly here for
school and that’s about it.”
R u ff, a native of Georgia came
to USC after running his own
electrician business. Initially, it
was not Ruff’s idea to return to
college, but a condition set by his
future father - i n - l a w. “He said
that if I wanted to marry his
d a u g h t e r, I had to earn my
d e g r e e . ”
The day before starting class-
es, Ruff and his girlfriend broke
up. “I still had the desire to
accomplish this. I’m doing it for
me – no one else. I have a real
thirst for knowledge. The more
courses I take, the more I realize
how much there is to learn.” n James Ruff, 31, at work on wiring a fountain while on the job with Fauts
Electric Corp. The creative writing major said one challenge in being a
student was in figuring out time-management skills.
A w a rds Ceremony Honors Local V o l u n t e e r s
Business major Brenda Robison, 43, and fellow stu-
dent Dominique Hamilton, a freshman from Atlanta,
listen intently in their statistics class, Math 218.
ABOUT 600 GUESTS, PRIMARILY LOCAL F A M I L I E S, gathered in Town and Gown for the annual Holiday
Reception Aw a rds Ceremony in USC’s Town and Gown on Dec. 7. The event was sponsored by USC Civic and Community
Relations, USC Auxiliary Services, Kid Watch and ECCLA.
Isabelle de la T o rre (at podium) and Mary Wiley (right) were honored as the two Outstanding Kid Watch V o l u n t e e r
A w a rd winners. Presenting the awards are Lt. Nancy Ramirez and Officer Randy Cochran of the Los Angeles Police
D e p a rtment. De la T o rre has lived in the neighborhood for more than 40 years and has been an active Kid Watch volun-
teer since 1996. Mary W i l e y, who has lived near Foshay Learning Center for 52 years, also joined Kid Watch in 1996 and
has r e c ruited other neighbors to take part .
ECCLA presented awards to local students who won prizes in an essay contest on a Hispanic theme and gave out two
USC/ECCLA 8th Grade Higher Education Scholarships.
Deputy Chief Bob Taylor of USC’s Department of Public Safety presented the award for the annual anti-graffiti poster
contest, which was organized by the USC Family of Five Schools Safety Task For c e .
The program included a per f o rmance by the USC Concert Jazz Ensemble under the direction of USC Thornton School
of Music’s Bruce Eskovitz.
Samuel Mark, CCR’s assistant vice president, said a highlight of the evening was a wealth of door prizes. “This year the
regular door prizes were supplemented by Morrie Notrica of 32nd Street Market. He donated 10 TV sets, 10 bicycles and
m o re than 20 $50 gift cer t i ficates,” said Mark. “The guests were delighted.” n IRENE FER T I K
5 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 C H R O N I C L E February 5, 2001
Need a Good Job? This USC P rogram Offers Solutions
by Sharon Stewart
D
elma J. Dixon still re-
members the pain that
t h rust her into the ranks
of the disabled and the
unemployed, ending her car e e r
as a licensed vocational nurse.
“I had been in nursing for the
last 20 years; it was all I knew , ”
Dixon said about the year it took
doctors to conclude that sciatica
was causing the debilitating pain
in her legs. “So there I was, stuck.
I needed to be retrained for a dif-
f e rent type of job.”
Luckily for Dixon, a friend
s t e e red her to a job training and
job placement program at USC
that has been in existence for
almost 30 years.
“ We are the department that
has handled all federally funded
job training programs for USC
since 1974,” said Gebre C. Solo-
mon, director of USC’s Office of
Job Development.
“ We take individuals who are
in need of additional training and
p rovide about 150 hours of train-
ing in our computer lab on soft-
w a re programs such as W o rd
P e rfect, Excel, Lotus and Micro-
soft W o rd,” Solomon said. “We
then provide four months of on-
the-job-training in offices on the
University Park and Health Sci-
ences campuses.” This on-the-job
training often leads to per m a-
nent jobs at USC.
USING FEDERAL FUNDS, Solo-
m o n ’s office shares or fully pays
the average $7 to $10 hourly wage
that job-training participants earn
while in the program.
Over the years, the federal jobs
p rogram has borne several names:
the Compre h e n s i v e
Employment Training Act
of 1975; the Job T r a i n i n g
P a rtnership Act of 1983;
and, in July, the W o r k f o rc e
Investment Act, commonly
r e f e rred to as the WIA.
(The job development divi-
sion currently administers
the welfare-to-work pro-
gram and the youth pro-
gram under the WIA.)
“The purpose of this
p rogram from day one has
to do with Pr e s i d e n t
S a m p l e ’s suggestion that all
d e p a rtments give hiring priority to
people living around USC,”
Solomon said. “I really love this job
because I can see the results: Every
time I walk to the Commons to get
c o ffee, I see 30 or 40 people along
the way who graduated from our
p rogram and are now working on
c a m p u s . ”
A
s the largest private
employer in the city of
Los Angeles, USC is sim-
ply living up to its com-
munity responsibility by training
and hiring workers who live near
the university, said Linda Nolan,
d i rector of equity and diversity in
the office of the general counsel.
But, Nolan said, “it would be
a huge mistake to think all pro-
gram participants come to us
unskilled. They compete with
any and all applicants for open
positions at the university.
When they get the job, it’s
because they are competitive
with our external applicants.”
DIXON, WHO LANDED a job
in Solomon’s office after com-
pleting the four-month training
p rogram, said she is ideally suit-
ed to help laid-off workers, dis-
placed homemakers and those
t rying to get off welfar e .
“Prior to my USC experience, I
had no knowledge of computers;
in fact, I was afraid of them,” she
said. “I fig u red if I touched the
w rong button, it would delete
e v e ry t h i n g . ”
H o w e v e r, as with nearly 300
other former trainees, Dixon’s
For almost three decades, the Offi c e
of Job Development has quietly been
training and placing workers in jobs.
Delma Dix o n ,l e ft , a management infor m a tion systems specialist in USC’s Office of Job Dev e l o p m e n t , helps job-tra i n i n g
p a rticipant Margaret Garcia master a software pro g ra m .D i xon became knowledgable in the use of computers when she
went through USC’s pr o g ram herself. Now she tests, assesses and determines the eligibility of applicants for the four-
month training pr o g ra m .
h a rd work paid off in a per m a-
nent job with the university. She
was hired in 1995 as a computer
lab assistant and was pr o m o t e d
in 1998 to management infor m a-
tion systems specialist. She is
responsible for testing, assessing
and determining the eligibility of
those who need additional train-
ing in order to land a decent job.
“Sometimes when you’ve
been down for a while, you have
a feeling that it can’t be done,”
she said. “I like being that extra
leg for [trainees] to stand on, let-
ting them know that it can be
done.” n by Bob Calverley
THE INFORMATION SCIENCES INSTITUTE (ISI), part of
U S C ’s School of Engineering, has reached an agreement
with iBEAM Broadcasting Corp. to facilitate delivery of
streaming Internet video and audio content to more than
half a million computer users throughout Southern
C a l i f o r n i a .
“This agreement will benefit our students and others
at USC who receive streaming content because it will
reduce our costs,” said Jim Pepin, who is responsible for
high-performance network infrastructure for ISI and the
Information Services Division (ISD) at USC. “We have
witnessed an increasing demand for streaming content
l a t e l y, and partnering with iBEAM will assist us in provid-
ing an improved experience of the Internet to students, as
well as to the hundreds of thousands of end users who
access the Internet through the Los Angeles Access Point
( L A A P ) . ”
An access point is a place where Internet service
providers exchange data traffic with each other, and LAAP
– which was started in 1996 by ISI’s late Internet guru Jon
Postel – is one of the oldest. ISI estimates that LAAP
serves more than 600,000 of the most sophisticated com-
putationally intensive and demanding computer users in
Southern California. Internet service providers join the
LAAP to enable cost-neutral traffic exchange. ISI operates
the LAAP and is funded by the membership fees. As more
members join the exchange, everyone benefits due to
lower ISP transit costs.
iBEAM, based in Sunnyvale, provides streaming
media, interactive webcasting and other services to more
than 400 companies, including many well-known media
and entertainment giants. The firm currently delivers
nearly 60 million streams per month through a distribution
network of high-performance servers connected by satel-
lite augmented with fi b e r-optic cable.
WITH THE AGREEMENT, iBEAM will provide stream-
ing support to both academic and commercial LAAP-
served networks, including USC, UCLA, UC-Irvine,
UC-Santa Barbara, UC-San Diego, Caltech, all
California state and community colleges, as well as
DigiLink, Interworld, Zocalo and Warenet. The compa-
ny will also be able to reach TRW and the Jet Propulsion
Lab and Centergate Research at Caltech through Los
Nettos, an Internet service provider operated by ISI.
“This agreement reinforces the importance of streaming
media as a powerful element that enables students to
use the Internet to enrich and enhance their knowledge
and experience,” said Peter Desnoes, president, chair-
man and CEO of iBEAM.
In addition to his responsibilities at ISI, Pepin was
recently named the chief technical officer at ISD. He
also serves as the technical director of the Center for
High Performance Computing and Communications.
This center operates a 128-processor cluster computer
and is a partnership between ISD and ISI. n “We take individuals who are in
need of additional training and
provide about 150 hours of
training in our computer lab on
software programs.”
– GEBRE C. SOLOMON
ISI and iBEAM T eam Up to Stream Audio/V i d e o
J i m Pepin is responsible for the high-per f o rmance network infra-
s t ru c t u re at USC’s Information Sciences Institute and USC’s
I n f o rmation Services Division.
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 C H R O N I C L E February 5, 2001
Calendar for Feb 5 to Feb. 12
Some Stern Notes and a Few W o rds Fr o m
the Pr e s i d e n t ’s Distinguished Artist
Isaac Stern, one of the most acclaimed violinists of
the 20th century, appears in the first President’s
Distinguished Artist Series concert of the 21st – in
Bovard Auditorium on Friday, Feb. 9.
Stern has been described by the New York T i m e s
as “the complete violinist – one who has tone, tech-
nique, musicianship and, above all, the ability to pro-
ject; to come right over the footlights and give each
listener the impression that the artist is playing for
him alone. These are the qualities that make a great
musician. Stern has them all.”
Stern, the recipient of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987 and a
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992, celebrated two major milestones in the year
2000: his 80th birthday and his 40th anniversary as president of Carnegie Hall. Stern
helped save Carnegie Hall from the wrecking ball in 1960 and is not only one of the
w o r l d ’s best-loved violin virtuosos but also one of the world’s most formidable social
activists. He recalled the fight for Carnegie in his memoir, “My First 79 Years”: “[It]
taught me things about myself I hadn’t known before: I could sway influential peo-
ple through speech; I had the ability to stir crowds not only with music but also
with words.”
If the audience is lucky, Stern will stir the hall with both when he joins the
Thornton Symphony at USC.
Conducted by Sergiu Comissiona, the concert begins at 7 p.m. On the program:
Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture,” Dvorak’s Romance for Violin and
Orchestra, Beethoven’s Romance for Violin and Orchestra in F , Fritz Kreisler’s
“Leibesleid” and “Schön Rosmarin,” and Ravel’s “Bolero.”
Admission is $50 general, $30 senior citizens and USC faculty/staff, $15 USC stu-
dents. T o make reservations, call 213-740-2167.
M U S I C
T u e s d a y , Feb. 6, 8 p.m.: T h o rn t o n
Music Masters Series: Faculty and
Friends in Recital. W o r l d - r e n o w n e d
pianist Bernadene Blaha. Newman
Recital Hall. Free. 213-740-2584
W e d n e s d a y , Feb. 7, 8 p.m.: T h o rn t o n
Music Masters Series: Faculty and
Friends in Recital. Bruce Eskovitz
leads an all-star ensemble that includes
saxophonist Ernie Watts, Larry
Williams, Brian Swartz and Jaques
V oyemont. Newman Recital Hall. Free.
2 1 3 - 7 4 0 - 2 5 8 4
S u n d a y , Feb. 11, 8 p.m.: T h o rn t o n
Music Masters Series: Faculty and
Friends in Recital. Thornton faculty
member Jim Self leads the all-tuba
ensemble “Los T ubas,” with Norm
Pearson, Doug T ornquist and Fred
Greene. Works by Gunther Schuller,
Jim Self and David Peasly will be per-
formed. Newman Recital Hall. Free.
2 1 3 - 7 4 0 - 2 5 8 4
FILM & PERFORMING ART S
T h u r s d a y , Feb. 8, through Sunday, Feb.
1 1 : The Innocent Mistress. This 17th-
century comedy was originally staged at
L i n c o l n ’s Inn Fields in 1697. Just the
year before, the play’s author – drama-
tist and novelist Mary Pix (1666-1709) –
was herself satirized in “Female W i t s ”
by an anonymous Mr. W .M. Performed
by the senior BFA class of the USC
School of Theater, this production is
directed by Robert Robinson. Bing
T h e a t e r. Show times: Thursday and
Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 2:30 and 8
p.m., Sunday at 2:30 p.m. $10 general,
$7 seniors, students and children under
12, $5 USC students. 213-740-2167
E X H I B I T S
Through Feb. 13: H.A. Sigg: Recent
W o r k . Featuring abstract paintings,
sculptures and collages by Swiss artist
H. A. Sigg. USC Fisher Gallery , Harris
Hall. Hours: T uesday through Saturday ,
noon to 5 p.m. Free. 213-740-4561
Through Feb. 16: A l b e rt Contr e r a s :
Abstract Classicist. A casualty of the
“less is more” creed, Contreras quit
making art in 1972 when he’d reduced
his image to a dot. He began painting
again in ’97. USC Fisher Gallery, Harris
Hall. Hours: T uesday through Saturday ,
noon to 5 p.m. Free. 213-740-4561
Through Feb. 28: Trojans of Ebony
Hue: Role Models for All
Generations. Featuring profiles and
memorabilia of USC black alumni who
have made significant contributions to
Los Angeles and the nation. The exhib-
it subjects are renaissance duo Thomas
and V ada Somerville, 1909 and ’18;
attorney Crispus Attucks Wright, 1936
and ’38; foreign missionary Diana
McNeil, 1909 and ’10; folk artist
V arnette Honeywood, 1974; first USC
All-American Brice T aylor 1927; coach
and renowned sportswoman Cheryl
M i l l e r, 1986; filmmaker John Singleton,
1990; businesswoman Linda Johnson
Rice, 1980; USC professor of social
work Barbara Solomon, 1966; L.A.
architect Paul R. Williams, 1919; direc-
tor/producer Forest Whitaker, 1982;
actor/producer Lavar Burton, 1976; edu-
cator Reveta Bowers, 1970; business-
man Darien Dash, 1992; 747 pilot
Stayce Harris, 1981; and astronaut
Charles F . Bolden, 1977. Planners and
Developers Archive Gallery, Lewis
Hall. Hours: Monday through Friday, 9
a.m. to 5 p.m. Free. 213-740-8342
Through May 11: M a y n a rd Dixon’s
“Jinks Room” Murals. USC Fisher
G a l l e r y , Harris Hall. Hours: T u e s d a y
through Saturday , noon to 5 p.m. Free.
2 1 3 - 7 4 0 - 4 5 6 1
S P O RT S
T u e s d a y , Feb. 6, 1:30 p.m.: M e n ’s
T ennis. USC vs. San Diego. Marks
Stadium. Free. 213-740-GOSC
T u e s d a y , Feb. 6, 6 p.m.: Baseball. U S C
vs. Cal State Fullerton. Dedeaux Field.
$7. 213-740-GOSC
W e d n e s d a y , Feb. 7, 1:30 p.m.: W o m e n ’s
Tennis. USC vs. San Diego State.
Marks Stadium. Free. 213-740-GOSC
W e d n e s d a y , Feb. 7, Thursday, Feb. 8,
and Sunday, Feb. 11, 6 p.m.: I n t r a -
mural 3-Point Basketball Shootout.
Open to students, faculty and staf f .
Lyon Center. Free. 213-740-5127
T h u r s d a y , Feb. 8, 1:30 p.m.: M e n ’s
T ennis. USC vs. Georgia T ech. Marks
Stadium. Free. 213-740-GOSC
T h u r s d a y , Feb. 8, 7:30 p.m.: M e n ’s
Basketball. USC vs. UCLA. Sports
Arena. $15-20. 213-740-GOSC
F r i d a y, Feb. 9, 1:30 p.m.: W o m e n ’s
Tennis. USC vs. Pepperdine. Marks
Stadium. Free. 213-740-GOSC
S a t u r d a y , Feb. 10, 1 p.m.: B a s e b a l l .
USC vs. Cal State Long Beach.
Dedeaux Field. $7. 213-740-GOSC
S a t u r d a y , Feb. 10, 2 p.m.: W o m e n ’s
B a s k e t b a l l . USC vs. UCLA. Sports
Arena. $5. 213-740-GOSC
S a t u r d a y , Feb. 10, 7:30 p.m.: I c e
H o c k e y. USC vs. UCLA. Disney Ice
Arena, Anaheim. $5 general, $3 stu-
dents. 213-740-5127
M o n d a y , Feb. 12: W o m e n ’s Golf. T RW
Regional Challenge. Palos V erdes Estates.
Admissions vary . 213-740-GOSC n 6
H E N RY GROSSMAN
For a full listing of events, visit http://www.usc.edu/calendar
USC Chr o n i c l e welcomes calendar listings
f rom all areas of the university. Items
should be submitted online at:
h t t p : / / w w w. u s c . e d u / c a l e n d a r
Click on “Add Y our Event”
T o be considered for a featured item send
any additional information and photos to:
Inga Kiderr a
KAP 246, MC 2538
University Park Campus
213-740-6156, fax 213-740-7600
e - m a i l : k i d e rr a @ u s c . e d u
The deadline for the Feb. 19 issue,
which covers events through Feb. 26,
is noon W e d n e s d a y , Feb. 7,
LECTURES & SEMINARS
T u e s d a y , Feb. 6, noon: Tuesdays at
F i s h e r. Hans Dürig, deputy consul gen-
eral of Switzerland, presents a slide-
illustrated lecture on Swiss culture.
USC Fisher Gallery , Harris Hall. Free.
2 1 3 - 7 4 0 - 5 5 3 7
T u e s d a y , Feb. 6, noon: P o p u l a t i o n
R e s e a rch Laboratory Seminar Series.
Angela James, assistant professor of soci-
o l o g y, USC, and others ask “Changing
Contours of Race in the 2000 Census:
What Will the Data Show?” Ralph and
Goldy Lewis Hall, Rm. 308. Free. 213-
7 4 0 - 6 2 6 5
W e d n e s d a y , Feb. 7, 12:30 p.m.: C e n t e r
for International Studies Faculty
R e s e a rch Series. “On Sharing NA T O
Defense Burdens in the 1990s and
Beyond,” by T odd Sandler, Robert R.
and Katheryn A. Dockson Chair in
Economics and International Relations,
USC. Social Sciences Building, Rm. B-
40. Free. 213-740-0800
T h u r s d a y , Feb. 8, noon: C e l l u l a r
Homeostasis Research Seminar
Series. “MHC Homologs in Immune
and Non-Immune Recognition” by
Pamela J. Bjorkman, professor of biolo-
g y, Caltech. Sponsored by the USC
Research Center for Alcoholic Liver
and Pancreatic Diseases, department of
p a t h o l o g y, Howard Hughes Medical
Institute, USC Hepatitis C Cooperative
Research Center, and USC Research
Center for Liver Diseases. Doheny
(Ambulatory Healthcare Center)
Auditorium, Rm. 102, Health Sciences
Campus. Free. 323-442-3121
T h u r s d a y , Feb. 8, 3:30 p.m.: G e n d e r
Studies Tea. All students, faculty and
s t a ff are welcome to an afternoon of
refreshments and lively discussion – on
topics that range beyond gender stud-
ies, depending on the participants. This
is also an opportunity to learn more
about the Gender Studies Program
( m a j o r, minor or graduate certifi c a t e ) .
T aper Hall of Humanities, Rm. 331-C.
Free. 213-740-8286
W O R K S H O P S
M o n d a y , Feb. 5,10 a.m.:Center for
I n t e rnational Studies and School of
I n t e rnational Relations Graduate
Association W o r k s h o p . “ H u m a n
Rights Activism and Networking:
Local, National, Regional and
International” by Brooke Ackerly, CIS
visiting scholar and workshop coordina-
t o r. Reservations are requested. Social
Sciences Building, Rm. B-40. Free. 213-
7 4 0 - 9 6 0 5
W e d n e s d a y , Feb. 7, noon: G r a d u a t e
Student Career Development
Workshops. “ Tips on Negotiating.”
Graduate students interested in acade-
mic jobs can discuss concerns and get
advice on negotiations from Center for
Excellence in T eaching fellows Bruce
Zuckerman and Delores Conway .
Sponsored by Center for Excellence in
T eaching, GPSS, and the Career
Planning and Placement Center.
Student Union, T rojan Presentation
Room, B-3. Free. 213-740-9040
7 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 C H R O N I C L E February 5, 2001
P O V E RTY AMONG C a l i f o rn i a ’s
immigrant population is on the
decline after a 30-year rise,
a c c o rding to a USC demographic
study that has implications for
New Y ork, New Jersey, Florida,
Texas and other states with lar g e
immigrant concentrations.
“Over the last three decades,
the immigrant population has
i n c reased substantially in Califor-
nia,” said Dowell Myers, a USC
demographer and the study’s co-
a u t h o r. “A quarter of all Cali-
f o rnians were born abroad – more
than any other state, and far
above the national average of 10
p e rc e n t .
“ U n f o rt u n a t e l y, these popula-
tion gains were accompanied by
rising poverty levels that placed a
b u rden on welfare, health care
and other community ser v i c e s .
H o w e v e r, both trends – growth in
immigrant population and immi-
grant poverty – have tur n e d
down,” Myers said.
The reversal, Myers said, can
be attributed to growth in pr o s-
perity as immigrants become
assimilated into their communi-
ties, a process that evolves with
time.
“Newcomers are, on average,
less well-off than those who have
settled in and adapted for 10 or 20
years,” Myers said. “The gr o w i n g
number of long-term immigrants,
and the resultant stabilizing of
the percentage of for e i g n - b o rn in
the overall population, has many
positive financial implications for
C a l i f o rn i a . ”
Myers, a professor of urban
planning and demography in the
USC School of Policy, Planning,
and Development, wrote the
r e p o rt with economist and dem-
ographer John R. Pitkin, a r e s e a rc h
associate at USC and a principal of
Analysis and Forecasting Inc., a
Cambridge, Mass., consulting fir m .
THE COMPREHENSIVE s t u d y,
“Demographic Futures for Cali-
f o rnia,” is designed to support
policy analysis and planning in
C a l i f o rnia, said Daniel A. Maz-
manian, C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper
Dean of the USC School of Policy,
Planning, and Development.
“The Golden State’s lar g e
immigrant population has emer-
ged in recent decades as a part i c u-
F a c u l t y, Students,
S t a ff and Alumni
to Gather for
Special Pr o g r a m
Mark your calendars now
for T u e s d a y, Feb. 27, from 11
a.m. to noon, when USC fac-
u l t y, students, staff, and
alumni will gather in Bovard
Auditorium for a special pro-
gram highlighting the univer-
s i t y ’s extraor d i n a ry pr o g re s s
over the past decade.
Replacing the annual
A d d ress to the Faculty by
P resident Steven B. Sample,
usually given in January, this
event will feature remarks by
the president, a video about
U S C ’s successes, and other
special presentations. Cof f e e
will be served in front of
B o v a rd prior to the pr o g r a m ,
f rom 10:30 to11a.m.
A lunch for faculty will
follow the program at noon
in Town and Gown. Reser-
vations are r e q u i red for the
lunch. For more infor m a t i o n ,
call Liz McCann at University
Special Events Services, (213)
740-6786. n Students, Profs Mix
continued from page 1
lar obstacle to problem-solving in
many policy areas, particularly in
p o v e rt y, health insurance, tobacco
use, public transportation and
housing needs or homeowner-
ship.”
The significance of the tur n i n g
point in poverty rates should not
be overlooked, Pitkin said. “T w o
studies released earlier this month
by the U.S. Census Bureau and the
Washington, D.C.-based Center
for Immigration Studies both
mention the 2000 poverty rate for
f o reign born, but neither study
places this in relation to the long-
t e rm trend.
“The 2000 poverty rate was
neither a statistical accident attrib-
From left to r i g h t , those who worked on the immigrant st u d y: H ae Ran S h i n ,
Jane Chung (administra t o r / c o o rd i n a t o r ) , Noel Hacegaba (in the back ) ,R ox a n n e
T a n e m o ri , Julie Park (research manager), D ow e ll Myers (project director and co-
a u t h o r ) , Liang W e i , and Zhou Y u . Not sho w n :J ohn Pitkin (co-author) and Scott
M a n g u m . S h i n , P a r k , Wei and Y u are doctoral c a n d i d a t e s . Hacegaba and
T a n e m o ri are graduate st u d e n t s .
P o v e rty Declines Among Immigrants, USC Study Finds
A 30-year trend reverses as immigration rate stabilizes, prosperity rises; authors say gains are long-term.
utable to the small sample size of
the survey on which it is based nor
a r e flection of temporarily favor-
able economic conditions in Cali-
f o rnia and the nation,” Pitkin said.
The USC study measur e d
p o v e rty rates over three decades,
utilizing the censuses of 1970,
1980, and 1990, and the Curr e n t
Population Survey of March 2000,
Myers said. “By chance, each of
these measurements has been
conducted at a similar peak of the
economic cycle when unemploy-
ment was low. This made it possi-
ble for us to approximate a full
employment poverty rate. The
d i ff e rences between decades are
not attributable to annual fl u c t u a-
tions in the economy.
“This long-term measur e m e n t
gives us confidence to forecast a
deep-seated turn a round in pover-
ty that will be long lasting,” he
added, “although future fl u c t u a-
tions in the economy could pro-
duce temporary annual upturns in
p o v e rt y. ”
The Myers-Pitkin study calls
attention to the temporal pr o c e s s-
es of immigrant arrival and adap-
tation. Their
fi n d i n g that the
u p w a rd trend in
overall pover t y
rates for the
f o re i g n - b o rn
population be-
gan re v e r s i n g
b e f o re 2000
should be con-
firmed when
the 2000 census
results on in-
come and immi-
gration are re-
leased next year,
said the re-
s e a rchers.
T o increase their value for pol-
icy purposes in California, the USC
p rojections are controlled for age
and race totals produced by the
Demographic Research Unit in the
C a l i f o rnia Department of Finance.
Those projections are the offi c i a l
fi g u res produced by the state of
C a l i f o rnia for state and local plan-
ning. The USC projections also
consider nativity and immigrant
d u r a t i o n .
The r e p o rt “Demographic Fu-
t u res for California” was support-
ed by the USC Office of the
P rovost, the USC T r a n s d i s c i p l i n a ry
Tobacco Use Research Center
(with funding from the National
Cancer Institute) and the Fannie
Mae Foundation. n “The growing number of long-ter m
immigrants, and the resultant stabilizing
of the percentage of foreign-born in the
overall population, has many positive
financial implications for California.”
– DOWE LL M YERS
explored in meetings hosted by Vice President
for Student Affairs Michael L. Jackson and
political science professor Mark Kann. Those
brainstorming sessions will result in a report
and a set of recommendations to the provost
sometime this spring.
“ We know that students wish they had
more interaction with professors, and the fac-
ulty members have told us they want the
same,” said YiShaun Chen, a junior majoring
in psychobiology. “The Student Senate is try-
ing to foster a relationship among students and
faculty that recognizes the rise in academic
standards at our university . ”
Chen, director of academic affairs for the
Student Senate, said that other events to bring
students and faculty together are on the draw-
ing board.
In the meantime, placing a coffee cart out-
side the Commons might create a gathering
spot for students and professors to talk about
politics, culture, current events and life in gen-
eral, said Richard Fliegel, coordinator of gener-
al education programs at USC.
“It could be a coffeehouse experience
where students and faculty get to know one
another in a different manner,” he said.
Alternative Office Hours is an example of
Student Senate members exercising leader-
ship, Fliegel added.
“They have been doing things that have
real academic consequences for students,” he
said. “They are trying to enrich the academic
environment of students outside their classes,
and that’s something that we in general educa-
tion have been trying to do also.” n An Alternative Office Hours event provided the perfect opportunity for students and faculty to engage in
conversation. From left, Thomas Habinek, professor of classics, Viet Nguyen (classics), Oliver Chan (kinesi-
ology), Jason G r i ffiths (undecided), Sharon Lloyd, professor of philosophy, David German (philosophy) and
Neil McArthur (philosophy). Below, Chan and Nguyen chat with Yolanda Kirk, who teaches English.
8 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 C H R O N I C L E February 5, 2001
Students in journalist A.J. “Jack” Langguth’s “Interpretive Writing” class chat with the professor when class is over. Fr o m
left, Priya Sanvor d e k e r, Jennifer Smith and Ann Fissekis. Langguth also pitches in to help the USC community, and in 1995
he received a USC Good Neighbor Volunteer A w a rd for encouraging his journalism students to help local schoolchildr e n
s t a rt a school newspaper as a part of his “Directed Research” course. Langguth and his student team helped pupils at
M a rtin Luther King Jr. Elementary School develop King Chronicles, the school’s first paper . T wo years later, his class
worked with students at the Foshay Learning Center to launch the Foshay T i m e s .
A.J. Langguth Searches for the T r u t h
QUICK T A K E S
A French Knighthood
for CNTV’s Polan
q Dana Polan, professor of
critical studies in the USC
School of Cinema-T e l e v i s i o n ,
has been awarded a knighthood
by the French Ministry of Cul-
ture, recognizing Polan’s cross-
cultural contributions in arts
and letters. Polan, an expert on
American film and French cul-
ture, earned a Doctorat d’Etat
at the University de la Sor-
bonne Nouvelle and has served
on the school’s faculty. He
has translated several signifi-
cant French works, including
“ K a f k a ” by Gilles Deleuze, and
served for a time as director of
the Paris Center for Critical
Studies, a study-abroad pro-
gram for advanced students in
areas of film history and aes-
thetics, contemporary French
thought and French literature.
q The Air Force Office of
S c i e n t i fic Research (AFOSR)
has awarded $780,291 to C r a i g
K n o b l o c k, project leader at the
Information Sciences Institute
in the USC School of Engineer-
ing. Knoblock will develop arti-
ficial agents that will retrieve
information from various data
sources and integrate, filter and
summarize it. The agents will
create new databases, prepare
digests and summaries, and
notify people about signifi c a n t
findings. The grant builds on
an earlier AFOSR contract in
which Knoblock created agents
that users could program. In the
new project, he will make the
agents quicker, more indepen-
dent and more flexible. Knob-
lock is a research associate pro-
fessor of computer science and
also does research at the Inte-
grated Media Systems Center
in the School of Engineering.
q Joseph Landolph, associate
professor of molecular microbi-
ology and immunology, testifi e d
as an expert recently at a hearing
in Burbank City Hall regarding
chromium 6 in the water supply.
In testifying, he joined a panel
of other scientists and Erin Brock-
o v i c h , whose investigation of a
case involving chromium 6 was
dramatized in a recent film. The
joint hearing was called by the
Senate Health and Human Ser-
vices Committee, the Senate
Natural Resources and W i l d l i f e
Committee and the Assembly
Committee on Environmental
Safe and T oxic Materials. Lan-
dolph described the effects of
chromium 6 on lung and other
cancers and recommended fur-
ther assessment and study of
the toxicity and carcinogeni-
city of chromium 6 in drinking
water to help revise public
health standards. n Journalist believes a future American president will apologize to the Vietnamese.
by Sharon Stewart
“If as Jack Langguth of the New
York Times suggests, we can win in
Vietnam only by destroying the
Vietnamese people, we have not only
frustrated our own professed altru -
istic purpose, but we have paid too
high a price for the protection of our
own interest.” – Rabbi Arthur J.
Lelyveld, “Jewish Imperatives and
World Peace,” Synagogue Council
of America, 1966.
hen A.J. “Jack”
Langguth first went
to Vietnam as a for-
eign correspondent
for the New York Times, he
d i d n ’t speak out against the war
the United States was waging.
“I did ask some of my
reporter friends how in the
world we could justify the
destruction, but I realized we
c o u l d n ’t say that,” Langguth
said in a recent interview. As a
reporter then, one didn’t chal-
lenge the forces that were
ostensibly fighting communism,
“so I kept my mouth shut.”
Also, “If you wanted to get
around the country or hop a
plane to Da Nang,” it was the
military that provided the trans-
p o r t a t i o n .
BUT BY THE END of the first of
three reporting tours of the war-
torn country, Langguth found
he could no longer keep quiet.
After seeing a Viet Cong sol-
dier “with his head blown off, a
kid in a little pair of shorts with
those sandals made out of old
rubber tires,” and after witness-
ing South Vietnamese refugees
streaming out of villages, trying
to escape the napalm being
dropped from American planes,
“I thought, ‘This is despera-
tion,’” Langguth said. “I thought
it meant that we didn’t know how
to fight a guerilla war, and, there-
fore, we were employing all of
our traditional techniques and we
were killing our allies, not just
the people we said were our ene-
m i e s . ”
More than 30 years after the
United States withdrew its troops
from Southeast Asia, Langguth is
still in the business of truth
telling. And on Thursday, Feb.
15, the USC Provost’s Dis-
tinguished Writers Series contin-
ues with a reading by and conver-
sation with Langguth. Sponsored
by the USC Provost’s Office, in
association with the USC Arts
Initiative, USC Spectrum and
Pen Center USA West, the pro-
gram takes place
in USC’s Alfred
Newman Recital
Hall. Seating is
limited, so se-
curing a ticket
early is recom-
mended (see
b o x ) .
After com-
pleting his fi r s t
reporting assign-
ment in V i e t-
nam, Langguth
summarized his
thoughts in a
1965 New Y o r k
Times magazine
a r t i c l e .
“It came out very negative
about the war,” he said. “My
direct boss, the Southeast Asian
bureau chief, read the piece in
Hong Kong and said, ‘W e l l ,
t h a t ’s good if that’s the way
you feel, but you know you
c o u l d n ’t have stayed on [as
a reporter covering V i e t-
nam] writing a piece like
t h a t . ’ ”
But the magazine did
o ffer him other writing
assignments. And Langguth
was able to tell the Amer-
ican public about the T e t
o ffensive and the war in Cam-
bodia, stories that played a part in
helping Americans understand
that they were on the wrong side
of history.
angguth, professor of
journalism and author
of eight books on an
eclectic array of sub-
jects – his latest being “Our
Vietnam: The War 1954-1975”
(Simon & Schuster, 2000) –
graduated cum laudefrom Har-
vard in 1955.
In addition to writing op-ed
pieces advocating that the
United States pay reparations to
Vietnam and articles calling for
reconciliation with that country,
Langguth is a frequent speaker
at conferences convened by aca-
demics and U.S. and V i e t n a-
mese decision-makers.
“When all the people who
were pro or con have gone and
this historical record is weighed,
I fully expect the president of
the United States, he or she, to
apologize to the people of
Vietnam and to start making
good on the reparations,” Lang-
guth said. “In a perfect world,
[the money] would go to electri-
fication projects and other posi-
tive things that would benefit
the whole Indochinese peninsu-
la, not into the hands of a few
corrupt officials.” n Covering Richard Nixon’s unsuccessful 1962 guber n a t o r i a l
bid, Langguth jokes with the candidate. At the time,
Langguth was political correspondent for the now
defunct V a l l e y T i m e s .
The USC P ro v o s t ’s Distinguished
Writers Series Pr e s e n t s
A . J . Langguth, USC Professor
of Journ a l i s m :
T h u r s d a y, Feb. 15, at 7 p.m. in
the Alfred Newman Recital Hall.
Admission is $20 general, $10
senior citizens and USC faculty/
s t a ff, $5 USC students.
Call 213 740-2167.
W
L
Some critics call Langguth’s new
book, “Our Vietnam,” the defi n i t i v e
h i s t o ry of the war .
By the end of the first of three
reporting tours of [Vietnam],
Langguth found he could no
longer keep quiet.
Abstract (if available)
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University of Southern California chronicle, volume 20, number 19 (2001 February 5). Published for the faculty & staff. Published weekly on Mondays, September throught April (except the week of Thanksgiving, two weeks before and after Christmas, and the week of spring break); and biweekly May through June.
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USC chronicle, vol. 20, no. 19 (2001 Feb. 5)
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