Max Nikias Announced as New President of USC

Listen to the full audio story

Download the MP3

USC's "new" president is a familiar face. The USC Board of Trustees announced late last night that they have chosen Provost Max Nikias.

Dr. Nikias will take over from current president Steven Sample in August. Seventy-five candidates were reviewed and narrowed down to seven finalists who were all serving as presidents or provosts of major universities. The recommendation to choose Nikias was unanimous.

Assistant Vice President for Media Relations James Grant is excited about this decision:

“He has an exemplary career as a researcher, as an educator, as a university administrator…and he has earned a lot of accolades for his leadership.”

At USC, Dr. Nikias' footprint is clear. He's worked on securing new fellowships and scholarships for hundred of students.

During his four-year term as Dean of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, he tripled the number of women on the faculty and raised over 200 million dollars -- the only dean who was able to raise so much money in such a short period of time.

Steven B. Sample has led USC since 1991, and he believes the university will be in excellent hands with Dr. Nikias as president. Under Steven Sample's 19-year presidency, USC has been recognized around the world in the fields of communication and multimedia studies, has built ground-breaking partnerships in the community, and has secured its position as one of the nation's top research universities.

In 2000, Time magazine named USC “college of the year”. Now, in a statement released by the university, the board of trustees states that they believe Nikias is the best possible person to continue to lead the university forward.

Camellia Abou-Odah, Annenberg Radio News.