Expanding Trojan Family Connections Everywhere

The USC Alumni Association’s top priority is helping alums like you build strong, lasting connections, to each other and to USC, wherever you call home. We want everyone in our Trojan Family—alums, USC parents and supporters—to have as many opportunities as possible to connect with fellow Trojans in their area. To make it easier for all alumni to get involved, we are taking an exciting new approach to our regional alumni communities.

Last month, after years of ongoing dialogue with alumni across the nation, as well as through discussions with the USC Board of Trustees Alumni Affairs Committee and the USCAA Board of Governors, we moved forward with our decision to make our regional communities more inclusive by replacing alumni clubs and chapters, and the need for officers, chairs and boards, with a new approach—one that will expand volunteer and involvement opportunities for all alumni, parents and friends.

Our commitment to our regional communities remains as strong as ever. This new approach, which will continue to rely on our longtime volunteer leaders and their expertise, will open the door for more Trojans, including many who have not participated in regional alumni programs and events before, to reconnect and get involved with USC. Our goal is to empower more regional volunteers, and expand involvement opportunities for all.

We want to encourage and support all of you in planning those activities, events and programs that you care about most. For example, perhaps you’d like to organize a lecture series, featuring distinguished alumni speakers, or spearhead a USC Day of SCervice project in your local community. You decide how much time and energy you want to commit to a project—and whether you’ll need to work with the Alumni Association to make it happen.

We want to emphasize that our programming slate is not changing! Trojans will still be able to connect through the popular events like Game Watches, SCend Offs and professional networking mixers that so many of you look forward to each year. Fostering ways for you to mentor students and raise scholarship funds remains a top priority for us as well.

Ready to get involved? Visit our Alumni Near You page today. And to find out more about how to volunteer for the activities you feel are the most significant to your region, please join us for our next Volunteer Open House/Orientation session on July 15.

We want to hear from you! If you have any questions or feedback about this new approach, check out our FAQs or email us here. You may also wish to email Pasha Hawthorne, director of regional and engagement programs, or call her at (213) 740-6274. Rest assured, we’ll monitor, measure and evaluate all aspects of our new regional program, and solicit feedback and make necessary adjustments on an ongoing basis.

Thank you and Fight On!

Patrick E. Auerbach EdD ’08
Associate Senior Vice President for Alumni Relations