President Biden might have the State of the Union Address, but President Carol Folt has the State of the University Address. Folt gave her speech this morning, and our reporters were there to cover it.
Here’s Sam Bitman with the story.
President Folt opened her State of the University Address at Bovard Auditorium with “the state of the University is strong.” She addressed her plans for the future of the university as well as all of the good USC has done.
Folt was proud to say that USC paid off 2.5 billion dollars in legal and COVID-19 while still sustaining 770 million dollars in grants and scholarships. USC is now the #3 institution in national funding research.
The president was clear about her “moon-shots” or goals for the University. USC is working to recruit more faculty talent, offer child and pet care to faculty, and to focus on sustainability, and student health sciences services.
Looking to the future, USC will be at the frontier of computing, have a new D.C campus acting as an access point to the government, and enter a new athletic conference in 2024.
USC continues to grow. The University will now be offering 5 new combined degree programs across almost all schools.
Folt ended her address with ‘99 alum and academy award winner, Key Huy Quan referencing his film, “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.”
After the address, Annenberg Media had the opportunity to interview with Folt to get more information on her plans.
The new student support programs like wellness and financial are at the forefront.
FOLT: So I think those are areas financially student support services, advising that we’re all working on to try to make sure that every student can feel they can hit the ground running and be excited about being here and successful.
These support programs are expensive and have changed Lyft programs which caused an uproar in the student body.
FOLT: You know, these things like Lyft services and, you know, doubling your mental health services, you know, that is expensive. So we need to find a way that we can both cover it and then invest in it.
It doesn’t look like they will be going back anytime soon.
With the recent raise in tuition, there is room for student concern. The addition of these new programs along with inflation can get tricky.
FOLT: It’s a really complicated situation right now because inflation is almost double the rate that we even add in tuition. So we’re adding services, adding programs, trying to increase it, and yet the value of our own dollar is lower.
If you missed this morning’s address, but are hoping to hear from President Folt herself, she will be delivering another speech at 8:00 a.m. in the Mayer Auditorium on The Health Sciences Campus.
For Annenberg Media, I’m Sam Bitman.