Los Angeles was a small, dusty town when the University of Southern California was launched with some 50 students in 1880.

Today the school is the largest private institution in the megacity, enrolling more than 39,000 students and 3,700 faculty members.

In an interview with The Korea Herald, C.L. Max Nikias, the president of USC, underscored the driving force of its growth: a focus on top-notch faculty, students and research, and leadership that looks to the future and the world.

Nikias, who was inaugurated as president of USC in 2010, said he has set up a number of priorities such as expanding international partnerships, hiring more talented faculty and enhancing research on medical and bioengineering.

In particular, he said, USC is “very proactive” when it comes to recruiting top-notch faculty.

He visited Seoul last week to attend the school’s global conference which is currently held biennially in different Asian cities, including Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai.

This year’s conference brought some of the school’s renowned faculty, such as former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger and more than 500 alumni across Asia, including Hanjin Group chairman Cho Yang-ho.

USC has a long-standing history of research partnerships in Korea, including collaborations with Korea Aerospace, Inha, Seoul National, Yonsei and Sungkyunkwan universities.

He signed an agreement last week formalizing a partnership between Inha and Korea Aerospace and aircraft manufacturer Airbus to jointly set up the Airbus Institute for Engineering Research.

He also signed a memorandum of understanding with Seoul National University’s College of Medicine for a student exchange program.

“We enroll more international students than any other university in the U.S.,” he said.

USC has more than 8,600 international students from 150 different countries thanks largely to its world-class faculty, he said.

The school recently recruited renowned scientists, such as Andrew McMahon, a stem cell expert from Harvard University, and Steve Gruber, a cancer researcher from the University of Michigan.

USC is also acquiring UCLA’s laboratory of neuro imaging, which employs some 100 researchers who study and map the human brain, according to the president.

The current student-to-faculty ratio is 9:1, and the president is looking to improve it by hiring some 70 renowned faculty members in the next five years.

Nikias has earned the nickname of “prodigious fund-raiser” after raising an unprecedented $2 billion in his first two years.

He captured headlines last September when he launched a $6 billion fund-raising campaign, which he described as the most ambitious in American higher education history.

The president said he is confident of attaining the goal, noting that the school has garnered nearly $3 billion in endowments during the past three years.

“People often ask me what it is that surprises me in fund-raising. I say when I solicit individuals I was very surprised to find that nobody turned me down,” he said.

“But I was always very careful, I always do my homework before I solicit individual (donors).”

The head of the fund-raising powerhouse said people donate money because they want to make differences in research and education.

“They give money (to USC) because they trust the leadership of the university,” he added. He noted that listening to donors and understanding what they are interested in is crucial to build trust donors.

“That’s why I spend a lot of time before I talk to individual donors,” he said.

Nikias illustrated how hip-hop artist Dr. Dre and producer Jimmy Iovine recently gave $70 million to USC to set up a new academic degree.

He said the producer first reached out to him nine months ago during a lunch.

“He said, ‘I have this vision that we have to educate students, that they can combine arts, technology and business for innovations,’” he recalled.

Nikias said over the past nine months he spent a lot time with Iovine to visualize his vision, and they ended up designing a new degree that combines liberal arts, graphic arts, business, music and technology.

With the $70 million endowment, the school will now offer a four-year degree designed for budding entrepreneurs in the arts and entertainment starting from next year, he added.

He noted that such a fund is important for the school to solidify its position as a top-tier private university in the U.S. and to expand its global presence.

“We’re also constantly looking to recruit top-notch faculty, setting up more international programs, improving infrastructure,” he added.

He called it the school’s “strategic priority” to recruit students and faculty members from Asian and Pacific countries.

“We’re in California looking into the Pacific Rim. That’s where the action’s going to be in terms of global economy in next 50 years. We believe USC can be truly the cultural and intellectual engine of this emerging age of the Pacific Rim,” he added. 

C.L. Max Nikias

● Nikias has been at USC since 1991, as a professor, director of national research centers, dean and provost. He took office as president of the USC in 2010.

● He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

● Nikias received a degree in electrical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in Greece, and earned his M.S. and Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo in the U.S.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)