USC Interim President Beong-Soo Kim announced on Monday, Sept. 15 — The International Day of Democracy — that the university would be establishing a Center for Civic Society within the USC Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy and Government Service in 2026. The center comes as a gift from USC Trustee Leonard D. Schaeffer, who is also a professor at USC’s Price School of Public Policy and chair of the USC Health System Board.
“The Center for Civic Society at USC Schaeffer Institute will conduct rigorous research that provides evidence and insight to meaningfully address our most urgent civic challenges,” said Schaeffer in a statement to USC Today. “Healthy democracies depend on engaged citizens and effective institutions.”
Schaeffer’s name is also tied to other USC initiatives: the Schaffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, founded in 2009, which works toward interdisciplinary research and analysis to support health policy; and the Schaeffer Fellows in Government Service program, which supports 50 undergraduate students a year in high-level summer government internships.
Last year, he established the Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service, where the new center will be based. The institute, anchored at the USC Capital Campus in Washington, D.C., came after Schaeffer and his wife donated $59 million to the university.
Eleanor Love, a 2024 Schaeffer Fellow studying public policy at the Price School, was able to work at the director’s office of personnel management.
“[I] really get exposed to how a federal agency implements policies and see the inner workings of the federal government, especially during election year,” Love said. “It really reaffirmed my personal commitment to public service and some kind of career in public service in the future.”
Love describes the opportunities she has through her fellowship, being able to explore new ways to make a positive impact through government services.
“It’s really important for students like me or other students who maybe are interested in public service to have that opportunity to do so,” Love said.
With the launch of the center, Kim also announced that former United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown will be appointed as Distinguished Scholar at the institute. Brown, who has more than three decades of public service, has enacted policy achievements, major reforms and investments in health and education.
“At a time when many democracies are being pulled apart by the politics of division, this center will stand for something different: the rigorous pursuit of understanding,” Brown said in a statement to USC Today. “Our research will not only expose the roots of polarization but help illuminate the path to renewed civic trust.”
Brown will be leading the new center and teaching courses at USC’s Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. Brown will not receive any personal compensation for his work, with all profits going towards research.
The International Day of Democracy, a day of recognition created by the United Nations in 2007, encourages governments to strengthen and promote the principles of their democracy.
“I think it’s really important for students at a younger age to be able to learn these different career paths and learn how they can engage differently and learn how they can support civic engagement without feeling worried about the political climate necessarily,” said Love. “I think [the Center for Civic Society] adds to this really important learning environment for democracy and government that [Schaeffer is] trying to build.”
This article originally misstated that Price School unveiled a gift from Leonard D. Schaeffer. The gift came at institute level. Price is a partner in the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, which is a program of the Schaeffer Institute.