Leonard and Pamela Schaeffer donated $59 million to open a new institute at the USC Capital Campus in Washington, D.C., with the goal to produce research that addresses public policy issues and educates students to be active participants in our democratic society.
The Leonard D. Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service is the first major research and education facility in Washington, D.C., expanding upon two existing programs: USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics and the Leonard D. Schaeffer Fellows in Government Services.
“The institute will have the faculty, students and postdocs to provide the analysis and facts necessary to counter erosion in public discourse and promote more effective policy solutions,” said Schaeffer, according to USC Today.
“There are times in the life of a university when a vision and an opportunity align to become a powerful force to serve the public good,” USC President Carol Folt said, according to USC Today. “And our students and our nation need this now more than ever.”
Schaeffer’s donation will fund the construction of the seventh floor of the Capital Campus reserved for the new institute and will also be used for an endowment for the Leonard D. Schaeffer Fellows in Government Service. This program enables paid fellowships for undergraduate students to work in government offices and network with industry professionals.
The new Schaeffer Institute will also create additional policy research programs inspired by the current Schaeffer Center to support the undergraduate students in their efforts to connect and learn from public policy and government service professionals.
Leonard Schaeffer is a USC trustee and the founder chairman and CEO of Wellpoint, a medical health insurance company. He’s also the chair of Schaeffer Center’s Board of Advisors and member of USC Price’s Board of Counselors.
Dana Goldman, dean of the Price School of Public Policy, will step down July 1 to become the director of the institute. Erica Lovano McCann, assistant vice provost for undergraduate education, will become the executive director of the Schaeffer Fellows in Government Service program.
“This new institute will widen the scope of such vital, value-focused scholarship and further build on Leonard Schaeffer’s legacy of health-policy leadership,” Vassilios Papadopoulos, dean of USC Mann and John Stauffer Dean’s Chair in Pharmaceutical Sciences, said, according to USC Today.