As he got older and his friends started to outgrow video games, Chen realized what was missing: a mature, emotional connection to the entertainment – something bigger than guns, swords and avatars.

Chen, who became an award-winning game developer and changed the landscape of adult Internet gaming, told his story at the 10th Chinese Internet Research Conference held by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. He was joined at the gathering by Ge Wang, founder of the video game developer Smule and creator of groundbreaking iPhone and iPad music apps, and Ting Chen, chairman of the Wikimedia Foundation, which supports and oversees Wikipedia.

The guests spoke to a diverse group of students, business and entertainment professionals, game developers, academics and technology leaders at the conference. Other speakers probed a wide range of issues, including the rising influence of microblogs, the explosive growth and development of online games, the mechanics and politics of Internet controls and Beijing’s use of online mapping services as a way to extend its global impact.

Since its inception at USC Annenberg in 2003, the conference has investigated all aspects of the Internet in China, where more than 500 million people – 60 percent more than the entire population of the United States – are on the Internet. The technical aspects include online gaming, microblogging, search engines, e-commerce, content regulation, Internet governance and international domain names. The USC gathering also explored how social media is breaking down barriers of distance and social station.

“People want to know what’s going on within China regarding the Internet,” said Clayton Dube, head of the USC U.S.-China Institute. “How are Internet developments affecting the social, political and economic landscape? And how is China, with its mammoth online population, affecting the Internet for everyone – in terms of governance, economic choices and censorship? Those are the topics we’re exploring here.”

The three keynote speakers, all natives of China, demonstrated the breadth of talent having a strong impact on the Internet and how that country’s users are transforming an understanding of collaborative knowledge, music and video games that evoke complex emotions, said journalism professor Mei Fong, who organized the conference.

“What really distinguished this conference is the keynote speakers,” Fong said. “All three are China-born, Western educated and are forging new paths in the digital era, whether it be music or gaming or knowledge sharing. This is, I think, inspirational to young Chinese people who are being urged by their parents to stick to the ‘safe’ technocrat jobs in technology.

“These three demonstrate that when you marry technology with creativity, the sky’s the limit.”

For Chen, the answer didn’t come right away. He made 12 games before he came up with the idea for Cloud, which was based on a young boy, confined to a hospital room, who dreams of escaping by flying. He developed the game as a student in the Interactive Media Division at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and with the help of a $20,000 grant from USC. Within three weeks of its release in 2005, school servers had trouble keeping up with the demand for downloads.

Chen, who never before had heard from a player, started to receive emails. “One email I received said, ‘Tell everyone involved they’re beautiful people.’ My entire life, no one had ever told me I was beautiful,” he joked.

But the sentiment told him he finally had made the connection he’d always wanted.

“There was something in this project that set it apart,” Chen said. “We tried to analyze what went right. It was a new continent for video games, and the continent was emotion.”

Chen realized people can be hungry for feelings, and he set out to make games that could fulfill the appetite for emotions beyond those sparked solely by excitement, competition and violence.

After earning his master’s degree, Chen co-founded thatgamecompany, which he still serves as creative director, in 2006 and began his work on Flower, a game that took two years and a dozen prototypes. The goal was to create something that was positive, uplifting and challenging.

“We realized how difficult it was to make a game unlike anything that existed,” he said. “It basically is like searching the fog.”

The game, which became a hit, is featured as part of the Art of Video Games, a Smithsonian exhibition.

Chen got the idea for Journey, his latest game, following a conversation with Charles F. Bolden Jr., a former astronaut now serving as the administrator of NASA. Bolden recalled how astronauts’ spiritual selves changed after seeing Earth from space. They felt something that changed their lives – awe.

“The problem with today’s entertainment media is there’s not a lot of awe left,” Chen said. To feel awe, you have to feel small, he explained, but existing video games focus on empowering the user. “You are the center of power.”

The idea of Journey is to strip the player of empowerment – no avatar names, no chatting, no weapons, no detailed mission – to evoke a sense of wonder and awe as users try to navigate a wild and unmarked territory. Players are alone in a desert landscape until they stumble across other online players.

And that interaction is precisely what Chen was seeking. Instead of competing in the games, the natural instinct is to cooperate.

Since its release in March, Journey has become Chen’s most universal game, with popularity spread across the United States, Japan and Europe, and he’s received more than 500 supportive emails from players.

Chen hopes to make the future of video gaming and interactive design even more nuanced to evoke additional emotion, he said. He sees the recent surge in simplistic online games, which use basic programming and little art, as a step backward. He called the trend “heartbreaking.”

“I hope to change that,” he said.

Developed by the USC Rossier School of Education, Hybrid High redefines traditional notions of education by blending personalized instruction with digital coursework. The innovative charter school, which will be accessible by public transit, currently is recruiting ninth-grade students for the fall semester by holding informational meetings on the University Park campus.

According to “Closing the Graduation Gap,” a 2009 report in Education Week, the average high school dropout rate in urban centers across the nation is nearly 50 percent. One-third of the students drop out reportedly because of jobs or caring for family members. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, 56 percent of ninth-graders finish high school in four years, a percentage that is much lower in the neighborhoods served by Hybrid High.

“Hybrid High School will fill a vital need for a rigorous educational program tailored to students’ needs and ensuring that more of our students are finishing high school,” said principal Stephanie McClay. “I’m excited to begin to our work with students and families.”

Development of the school’s new 19,000-square-foot site will take place this summer, with plans for four large learning labs, two project rooms, an administrative suite, a series of “huddle rooms” for small student groups and a courtyard.

Hybrid High, which aims to help students in conventional academic settings, will offer year-round access up to 12 hours per day, seven days a week for students who care for family members, work full or part-time jobs or who need additional time to improve their skills and master course work.

Students will receive personalized schedules and learning plans as part of an academic curriculum that will integrate project-based learning. The school’s extensive use of technology is expected to prepare each student to use digital tools of the 21st century.

The school has an ambitious goal of graduating 100 percent of its students, making them socially and academically prepared for success in college or the workplace. It is expected to serve 150 ninth-graders in its first year, with plans to increase its student body to 650 students in grades 9 to 12 in four years.

USC faculty and staff and USC neighborhood families with children entering the ninth grade are encouraged to attend one of the orientation sessions to be held in Waite Phillips Hall 403 at 5:30 p.m. on May 29, June 12, June 26, July 10 and July 24.

For more information, visit uschybridhigh.org/

At the time she had just appeared in the feature films Real Women Have Curves and Gotta Kick It Up! But her studies at USC had lifted a veil on a larger world that she wanted to have a hand in improving.

During the spring, Ferrera recalled her dilemma with students in professor Steven Lamy’s class “International Relations: Introductory Analysis,” where she discussed her efforts to advance national and international social causes.

“I always wanted to go to college and get my education although I always wanted to be an actor,” Ferrera told the students. “I never knew how those two things would work with each other, and this was revealed to me in my first year of college here.”

During that year, in a moment of panic, Ferrera visited international relations professor David Andrus to inform him of her plans to quit acting and pursue a career that would lead to positive changes in the world.

“Then he told me the most unlikely story,” she said.

Andrus had been mentoring a young Latina from the inner city and was having difficulty understanding her family dynamics. The girl told him if he wanted to understand her life, he had to watch a movie. The film was Real Women Have Curves.

In the drama, Ferrera portrays a Mexican-American girl whose family expects her to work and help support them while she tries to pursue higher education. The situation mirrored the mentee’s own experience.

Watching the film prepared Andrus to meet with the girl and her family and discuss her dream to attain an education. In turn, the story helped Ferrera make up her mind about a career, she said.

“What my professor really wanted me to understand was that my passion for acting and what I loved doing in the world had the power to be a tool,” she said.

“In that moment I realized that I didn’t have to give up what I love. I could find a way to link it to other things that I cared about.”

Since then Ferrera has worked to forge that connection. While sustaining a successful acting career – she won an Emmy Award in the title role of the ABC series Ugly Betty and has appeared in a number of feature films – she has focused her efforts on making positive change.

In 2010, Ferrera partnered with Save the Children, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged children in the United States and around the world. As an artist ambassador, she traveled to Diassadeni, a village in Mali, to help the organization raise funds for a school.

“This is an example of how I met up with the right organization to work on an issue that was important to me,” said Ferrera, who has directed people to the cause while making appearances to promote past entertainment projects.

Ferrera recently teamed up with The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof to focus on the problem of human trafficking in India for Half the Sky, a new documentary series to air this fall on PBS. The multiplatform project is based on Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, a book Kristof co-wrote with his wife, journalist Sheryl WuDunn.

In the documentary, Ferrera accompanies Kristof through the red-light districts of Kolkata, providing a point of view for viewers to learn about intergenerational prostitution.

“Nick and Sheryl are trying to create global awareness and a global campaign for women’s causes and slavery of the 21st century, and I’ve been excited to be a part of that,” Ferrera said.

Last year, Ferrera also met with President Obama at the White House to discuss immigration issues with prominent Latinos in the United States.

Andrea Aldana, who studies international relations at USC, was inspired by Ferrera’s presentation.

“I could relate to some of her feelings of being overwhelmed by all of the information you learn in class and also being at a crossroads for different career paths,” Aldana said.

“It’s nice to know that she found a common ground and that it’s possible to follow your passion and make a difference.”

Kyle Hudson, who studies international relations, said that it gave him a new perspective.

“It made me think that there are ways to work on a political level and on a human-vested level,” he said. “It’s cool to see individuals making an impact.”

Ferrera, who took a leave of absence from her degree program to star in Ugly Betty, is working with Lamy to complete her bachelor’s degree in international relations this fall. In her previous years at USC, she was active in the Joint Educational Project and the Teaching International Relations Program, both housed at USC Dornsife.

Lamy invited Ferrera to share her unique perspective because it allows students to learn from someone who’s been where they’re sitting and can show them what they can do.

“She’s one of them,” he said.

With Lamy as her adviser, Ferrera is writing a case study on celebrity diplomacy and how those in the public eye can use their influence to bring attention to global issues. In the end, she said, it’s all about change.

“You guys have just as much a responsibility to think about what you care about and try to make a difference,” she told the international relations students. “Nobody gets a free pass.”

On May 2, her vision officially was achieved at a recognition reception honoring her foundation and its $6-million gift to establish the Roxanna Todd Hodges Comprehensive Stroke Clinic and the Roxanna Todd Hodges Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) program.

“This is an extraordinary gift,” said Keck School of Medicine of USC dean Carmen A. Puliafito at the reception, which was held at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute. “It is a devastating situation to have a stroke. The best strategy against it is prevention. I will do whatever I can to make these programs successful and ones that the Roxanna Todd Hodges Foundation can be very proud of.”

Nerses Sanossian, assistant professor of neurology and associate director of the neurocritical care and stroke section at USC, will serve as director for the clinic and the TIA program.

“Stroke is the leading cause of disability in this country, more than motor vehicle accidents or Alzheimer’s disease or any other condition,” he said. “Yet stroke is an entirely preventable disease. Education about stroke in general and about stroke risk factors in the community is not where it needs to be. With the Roxanna Todd Hodges Comprehensive Stroke Clinic, we will aim to reduce the burden of stroke in Southern California through prevention and education.”

There are more than 2,600 stroke-related visits to the Keck Medical Center of USC each year. The clinic will provide a multidisciplinary approach to the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients experiencing stroke or acute neurological events and related conditions. It also will encompass outpatient care, inpatient care and research.

The TIA program will focus on the development of enhanced diagnostic and treatment for preventing stroke. Commonly known as a “mini-stroke,” a transient ischemic attack refers to the temporary disturbance of the blood supply to the brain, which often results in a sudden and brief reduction in brain function.

There are more than 500,000 evaluations for TIA per year in the United States, though the true incidence is not known because most are never reported. TIA is an early warning of an impending stroke because it reflects an ongoing process, such as an unstable artery plaque or heart rhythm. The greatest impact on stroke prevention and treatment can be made immediately following a TIA event if rapid diagnosis and treatment occur.

“I believe that research, diagnosis and treatment of TIA patients can yield the greatest benefits because an averted stroke is the best outcome,” Sanossian said.

Deborah Massaglia, president of the Roxanna Todd Hodges Foundation and a friend of Hodges, also spoke at the reception.

“I know that Roxie would be extremely proud and honored to have these centers in her name,” she said, referring to Hodges’ nickname. “I am so proud and grateful to the Keck School of Medicine of USC for this opportunity. Years ago, TIAs were rarely ever mentioned and now to have a program to treat them is something even we would never have imagined.”

“We are deeply grateful for the Keston family’s continued generosity and unflagging support for the school and commitment to our mission,” Knott said. “For more than a decade, Mike Keston has played a significant role at the school, as a member of our Board of Councilors, as a member of our adjunct faculty and as the donor who established the Keston Institute to help California and the nation address critical issues affecting civil infrastructure. His engagement with the school has had and will continue to have an enormous and positive impact on our work.”

A national and international search currently is under way to recruit a renowned figure in real estate research whose contributions have advanced academic theory and influenced business thinking and practice in the commercial real estate sector. The faculty position will be affiliated with the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, one of the nation’s leading research and education centers committed to advancing real estate knowledge, informing business practice and addressing timely issues that affect the real estate industry, the urban economy and public policy.

Recruiting a strong commercial real estate scholar will help advance the Lusk Center’s goal of becoming the nation’s preeminent center for real estate education and scholarship. The position also will help the center’s mission to expand its real estate scope beyond Southern California and the United States to the fast-growing markets of South and East Asia.

“Linda and I are very proud to continue our long support of the school and USC, and we are delighted to know this gift will help to position the university as the undisputed leader in both commercial and residential real estate research and education around the world,” Michael Keston said. “It is a privilege to be a part of the school’s growing reach and influence in the real estate industry and in every discipline related to social policy and community development. ”

Longtime USC Price supporters Duda, Muller and Silk were lauded by Knott.

“We are also deeply appreciative of these donors’ commitment to our school,” he said.

After 32 years as concertmaster, Dicterow will return home with his new appointment. A native of Los Angeles, he made his debut at the age of 11 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where his father, Harold, served in the violin section for more than 50 years. As a teenager, Dicterow studied with legendary violinist and USC faculty member Jascha Heifetz. Prior to joining the New York Philharmonic, Dicterow served as associate concertmaster and concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

“We are very excited for Glenn Dicterow and Karen Dreyfus to join us at USC,” said USC Thornton dean Robert A. Cutietta. “The addition of Glenn and Karen to our faculty rounds out an already stellar group of individuals who are both distinguished musicians, as well as dedicated and inspiring teachers.”

Dicterow has been nominated to become the first person at USC Thornton to hold the Robert Mann Chair in Strings and Chamber Music, a recently established position created by Alfred Mann to celebrate the musical accomplishments of his brother and to honor the life and work of the founder and first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet.

Dicterow’s formal nomination resulted from a two-year international search to find the perfect person to honor Mann and complement the faculty at USC.

“Glenn Dicterow is a superb violinist-musician who will add his exceptional performance and teaching abilities to the school’s already outstanding musical activities,” said Robert Mann, who added, “Bravo!”

Dreyfus is a renowned violist who teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School and Mannes College The New School for Music. She is a founding member of the Lyric Piano Quartet, the Amerigo Trio and the Antonin Quartet. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, she has performed extensively in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and South America.

“These are great appointments,” said Midori Goto, holder of the Jascha Heifetz Chair in Violin and chair of the strings department at USC Thornton. “Both Glenn Dicterow and Karen Dreyfus will undoubtedly make invaluable contributions to the legacy of our department. They have had illustrious careers in such versatile ways, and their expertise will benefit both our students and the entire community.”

In addition to Goto, USC Thornton’s strings program features cellist Ralph Kirshbaum, holder of the Gregor Piatigorsky Chair in Violoncello; violinist Alice Schoenfeld, holder of the Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld Endowed Chair in String Instruction; violist Donald McInnes; bassist David Allen Moore; and a host of other exceptional artists. The program is unique among the nation’s top music schools, educating its students to become scholars and exemplary global citizens, as well as great musicians.

“Unlike many other top conservatories, our strings students are part of a supportive community where they interact with and are tutored by many of our renowned strings faculty while also receiving all of the benefits and experiences that come from attending the University of Southern California, one of America’s top universities,” Kirshbaum said.

“The appointment of Glenn Dicterow, one of the icons of American orchestral life, is simply great news for L.A.’s musical community,” said Deborah Borda, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. “Beyond marking the return of a native son, it is emblematic of the vitality of our artistic culture and the simple fact that this is a thriving and ever-evolving center for creativity. We welcome him and his family’s long time connection to the Philharmonic home.”

Dicterow will continue as the New York Philharmonic’s concertmaster through the 2013-2014 season. He and Dreyfus plan to make several trips to USC during the 2012-13 school year to teach master classes.

The appointments are another example of the impact USC Thornton has had in classical music following the recent Piatigorsky International Cello Festival. Organized by USC Thornton and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in partnership with The Colburn School and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the festival featured an international cast of artists and students. 

After taking a spring semester course on the physics, physiology, safety and methodology of scientific diving, 26 undergraduates will dive in the exotic locales of Guam and Palau and study environmental issues.

“Integrated Ecosystem Management in Micronesia,” a four-unit, four-week Maymester course, began on May 14. Before students could take the class, they had to complete “Introduction to Scientific Diving,” a two-unit course in the spring that took place in a classroom, a pool on the University Park campus and in the Pacific Ocean near the Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island, housed at USC Dornsife, where each student conducted 29 dives.

The Maymester course has seen a steady increase in nearly three years, said David Ginsburg, a lecturer in environmental studies and an instructor in the course.

When it launched in 2010, the class enrolled 14 students compared to 24 last year and 26 this year.

“We’ve never had so many undergraduates doing scientific diving,” Ginsburg said.

USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies dive safety officer Gerry Smith said students are jumping at the chance to dive in an exotic location.

“They’re very highly motivated,” Smith said. “When you have a trip to Guam and Palau as a reward, you get an incredibly enthusiastic response.”

Smith will accompany the students on their trip to the Pacific Islands, where each will complete 20 dives. He said the undergraduate students must meet extremely strict standards in order to pass both the Maymester and spring courses.

“We have some of the most rigorous standards in the academic diving community,” Smith said.

The spring course involved training sessions in the Physical Education Building pool on the University Park campus and then additional dives off Catalina Island at the Wrigley Marine Science Center. One part of the island training involved a 400-meter swim in the ocean.

“These are American Academy of Underwater Sciences standards for water skills,” Smith said. “Before we let the students dive independently, they must show sufficient stamina and skill to rescue themselves and an injured buddy.”

The leaders for both courses are Ginsburg, Smith and Jim Haw, Ray R. Irani Chairman of Occidental Petroleum Chair in Chemistry, professor of chemistry and director of environmental studies. All are AAUS-certified divers who have advanced certification from the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI). Haw and Ginsburg have leadership certifications and Smith is certified as a NAUI Scuba Instructor, the association’s highest credential.

In addition to setting high academic and diving standards for the students, the course maintains high safety standards.

For example, if there are 26 students in the water, there are nine USC staff with them: three instructors, three dive masters or assistant instructors and three dive master candidates, Smith said.

The in-classroom instruction covered all aspects of diving – the physics and physiology of diving, as well as the incorporation of scientific diving into research projects.

“It has all the rigor of any other course on campus,” Ginsburg said.

At least five students who went on the first Maymester trip to Guam and Palau continue to use their dive training in master’s and Ph.D. programs. Instructors are working to recruit students early in their academic careers so scientific diving can be a bigger part of their undergraduate experience.

Emily Lu, an environmental studies sophomore taking the Maymester course, wants to gain a deeper understanding of the ecological challenges facing Guam and Palau. Inspired by the program, she is considering research as a possible career path.

“Most students sit in a classroom and learn about the issues,” Lu said. “But we get to see the environmental issues firsthand and experience them.”

Follow students on their journey through their blog at blogs.scientificamerican.com/expeditions/

USC president C. L. Max Nikias addressed the black-tie crowd of more than 400 people, touching on the stellar accomplishments of the honorees who all have left their marks on USC athletics.

“Many of tonight’s inductees are individuals who never shrank from the challenges of competition but rose to the occasion when it counted most,” Nikias said. “Their extraordinary talents and astonishing records of achievement have fueled the fire of our competitive spirit and helped to forge USC’s glorious athletic identity.”

Marking the 10^th class of USC Hall of Famers, this year’s inductees included:

Arthur C. Bartner has served as USC Trojan Marching Band director for the past 42 years. Under his direction, the band has become one of the most dynamic and innovative collegiate units in the nation. Bartner has directed at Super Bowls, presidential inaugurations, Academy Awards, Grammy Awards and papal visits, taken the band to six continents, four world expositions and 17 countries, and marched in 16 Rose Parades. The pinnacle of his career was leading the 800-piece All-American College Marching Band at the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Lindsay Benko Mintenko is one of USC’s most decorated women’s swimmers. A 21-time All-American, she won five NCAA individual titles and helped the Women of Troy to their only NCAA team championship in 1997. During her USC career, she reached the NCAA finals in all 12 individual events in which she competed. Mintenko won gold medals as a U.S. team captain at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics in the 800-meter freestyle relay and added a silver in 2004 in the 400-meter freestyle relay. She is a 10-time U.S. national champion, three-time medalist at the World Championships and a seven-time medalist at the Pan-Pacific Championships.

Steve Bisheff covered the Southern California sports scene ­– in particular, USC athletics and the Trojan football team ­– for more than 40 years. The popular award-winning writer and columnist worked for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, San Diego Evening Tribune and Orange County Register, and blogged for 710 ESPN and the Los Angeles Times. The USC alumnus also authored five books, including Always Compete: An Inside Look at Pete Carroll and the USC Football Juggernaut, as well as books about John Wooden, the Angels and the Rams.

Tony Boselli is regarded as one of the finest offensive tackles to play at USC and in the NFL. A four-year starter at USC, he was a two-time All-American first teamer and three-time All-Pac-10 first teamer. The No. 2 selection of the 1995 NFL draft, he was the first pick in the history of the Jacksonville Jaguars franchise. He played seven seasons with the Jaguars, where he was a four-time All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowler. Boselli twice was the NFL Lineman of the Year and was named to the NFL’s 1990s All-Decade Team. He spent 2002 with the Houston Texans.

Clarence Davis, one of the most underrated tailbacks in USC history, was a 1969 All-American and a two-time All-Pac-8 pick. He had 2,323 rushing yards in his two-year career after transferring from East Los Angeles Junior College and ran for 100 yards nine times. He led USC in rushing and scoring both years, including a league-high 1,351 rushing yards in 1969 on Troy’s Rose Bowl championship squad. He also topped the Pac-8 in kickoff returns in 1970 and is 20th on USC’s career kickoff return list. Davis played for the Oakland Raiders for eight years, including their Super Bowl XI-winning team.

Barbara Hallquist DeGroot is a championship tennis player who in 1976 became the first female to receive an athletic scholarship at USC. The four-year letterwinner and three-time All-American won seven national collegiate tournaments. DeGroot was a member of three U.S. Junior Federation Cup teams, earning Most Valuable Player honors in 1977. Her pro career saw her reach the singles quarterfinals at the 1980 U.S. Open and twice advance to the doubles quarters. She later returned to USC as an assistant coach, helping the Women of Troy win the 1985 NCAA crown.

Barbara Hedges is credited with developing the USC women’s athletics program during her 18-year tenure as a Trojan athletics administrator. She began her USC career as an associate athletic director in 1973, overseeing the Women of Troy to 13 national championships. She added some men’s sports under her supervision in 1985 and later became senior associate athletic director in 1989. Hedges was the National Association of Collegiate Athletic Directors’ first female president in 1996-97 and the first woman on the National Football Foundation’s Board of Directors in 1998.

Robert “Bob” Hughes has the rare distinction of competing in the same Olympics in two different sports. In the 1956 Melbourne Games, he was on the U.S. water polo team that placed fifth and also swam the 200-meter breaststroke. Hughes participated in both sports at USC, lettering in water polo in 1954 and 1955 and in swimming as an All-American in 1955 and 1956 after transferring from El Camino Junior College. Playing the sport until 1963 (he was a three-time AAU All-American), he was a member of U.S. Pan American teams that won bronze in 1951 and silver in 1955.

Wayne Hughes, a USC life trustee, is one of the athletic department’s most generous supporters. A USC Marshall School of Business graduate, he is a successful businessman and racehorse owner, as well as a dedicated philanthropist. In 1972, he founded Public Storage, the nation’s largest self-storage company. He also is an active real estate investor. Hughes has owned and bred thoroughbred racehorses since 1972, with his colt Action This Day winning the 2003 Breeders’ Cup and Eclipse Award. He is involved in numerous charitable activities, including with the Parker Hughes Cancer Center.

Bryan Ivie, the most dominant collegiate men’s volleyball player of his era, is USC’s only two-time National Player of the Year. He helped the Trojans to the 1988 and 1990 NCAA titles (and the runner-up spot in 1991) and made the NCAA All-Tournament team in 1988 and 1991. His records for kills and blocks still stand at USC. Ivie participated in two Olympics with the United States, winning a bronze medal in the 1992 Barcelona Games. He was named to Volleyball Magazine’s All-Century team and USA Volleyball’s 75th Anniversary All-Era team.

Keyshawn Johnson is one of the top wide receivers in USC history. He was a unanimous All-American first teamer in 1995 when he set a still-standing Pac-10 and USC record for pass receptions (102) in a season. He was the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year in 1995 when he finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting. Johnson finished his USC career with 168 catches and had 17 games with 100 receiving yards. In the 1996 NFL draft, Johnson was chosen as the No. 1 pick by the New York Jets. He played for the Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers.

Randy Johnson went from a 6-foot-10 left-handed flamethrower at USC to one of the greatest pitchers in baseball. The three-year letterman won 16 games in his USC career, including going 5-0 in 1983. “The Big Unit,” noted for his dominant fastball and nasty slider, had a 22-year major league career, winning five Cy Young Awards, being named MVP of the 2001 World Series and appearing in 10 All-Star Games. He played for the Montreal Expos, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants.

Jill McGill, a 1994 All-American first-team golfer at USC, parlayed an impressive amateur record into a successful professional career. The four-year letterwinner was a two-time USC captain, helping the Women of Troy to runner-up finishes at the 1994 NCAA and Pac-10 Championships. She won both the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1993 and the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links in 1994, and played on the 1994 U.S. Curtis Cup team. McGill joined the LPGA Tour in 1996, where she has earned more than $2.3 million in her ongoing 16-year career and has 25 Top 10 finishes.

Tina Thompson is one of the world’s greatest women’s basketball players. A four-year starting frontcourt player at USC, she earned 1997 All-American first-team honors and was a three-time All-Pac-10 first teamer. She was the first player drafted in the WNBA, where she has been a nine-time All-Star and All-WNBA performer in her 15 years with the Houston Comets and Los Angeles Sparks. She is the WNBA’s all-time leader in scoring and games played. She won a pair of gold medals with the U.S. team at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, and she won a bronze medal at the 2006 World Championships.

Forrest “Twogie” Twogood was USC’s men’s basketball coach for 16 years. He took three Trojan teams to the NCAA Tournament, including reaching the Final Four in 1954. He posted an overall 251-179 record at Troy, captured three conference titles and had 13 winning seasons. He first served as head freshman and assistant varsity basketball and baseball coach at USC and later returned as an assistant basketball coach in 1949. After his coaching career, he became a Trojan assistant athletic director. He died on April 26, 1972, at the age of 64.

Quincy Watts, who came to USC specializing in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, turned into the best 400-meter runner in USC history. The Trojan co-captain won gold medals at the Barcelona Olympics in the 400-meter relay (in an Olympic and still-standing USC record time of 43.50) and in the 1,600-meter relay (in a world record time of 2:55.74). He was ranked in the world Top 10 in the 400 for four consecutive years, including No. 1 in 1992. In the 1,600-meter relay at the World Championships, he won a silver in 1991 and a gold in 1993. He also was a wide receiver on the USC football team in 1990.

Adrian Young, a 1967 consensus All-American linebacker, tied a Pac-8 record by intercepting four passes in a USC road victory over Notre Dame in 1967. It was the first of 12 USC wins over the Irish in a 16-year span. The three-year letterman helped the Trojans to the national championship that season, when he served as a team captain and won USC’s Most Inspirational Player Award. He then was selected to be in the 1968 Coaches All-America Game, College All-Star Game and Hula Bowl. A third-round NFL draft pick, he played for the Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears.

Inductees Bartner and Wayne Hughes also received the evening’s Spirit Award for their passion and loyalty to USC athletics and to the university.

USC athletic director Pat Haden, who was a member of the 2003 class, said: “This is an outstanding group of Trojan greats – Olympians, All-Americans, national champions and sports icons – who have played an important role in USC’s athletic history. They’ll join our first nine classes of Hall of Famers to form a real Who’s Who in USC sports.”

Selected by a 75-member panel consisting of media and USC alumni and athletic department supporters, the Hall of Fame athletes generally must have completed their last season of eligibility at USC 10 years ago to be considered for election.

The Trojans fought through rain delays, venue changes and some of the tensest matches on record in Athens, Ga., as the clinchers came down on the shoulders of two USC freshmen. Yannick Hanfmann was the hero of the day, shrugging off a rough second set and battling back in the third set to win it all in a tiebreaker.

The showdown was a rematch of the 2011 national championship, this time with USC as the top seed and Virginia as the No. 3. After the match was moved indoors with USC trailing 1-0, the Trojans captured four of the five singles matches completed to get the four-peat with a 4-2 win over the Cavaliers. USC finished the season with a 33-1 overall record.

USC is the first team since Stanford University’s 1995-98 teams to win four consecutive national championships. The Trojans lead all, however, in total team championships as they now hold 20 national titles. The victory also brings the university its 117th national championship, as the USC men’s tennis team matched the men’s water polo team with four straight crowns.

Jordan-Marsh is one of three recipients of the award, which honors faculty who have served the Academic Senate, the representative body of the entire faculty at USC, well above and beyond the call of duty.

“Maryalice extended her assigned responsibilities by taking on services that are more directly related to the Academic Senate and its functions,” said USC Libraries science and engineering librarian Najwa Hanel, a member of the task force for the Distinguished Faculty Service Award. “These are the qualities that I look for in a candidate I believe is deserving of the honor.”

As co-chair of the Committee on Information Services, a joint advisory committee of the Academic Senate and Office of the Provost, Jordan-Marsh is responsible for representing faculty interests associated with information technology use across the university, their needs and concerns, and communicating recommendations back to the chief information officer and provost. In this capacity, she also acted as a liaison for the Academic Senate Executive Board.

“This award is especially meaningful because of the extraordinary company in which I find myself,” Jordan-Marsh said of fellow winners Alexander Capron of the USC Gould School of Law and Peter Conti of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “In supporting this award, the Academic Senate recognizes that in our USC community, building excellence is a combination of service, scholarship and teaching.”