I would like to thank…

Dean Yannis Yortsos and his wife Sheryl…

 

Trustee Dan Epstein…

 

Board Members, Faculty, Friends, and Students…

 

Thanks to Michael Jackson and Kelly McLachlan…

 

A special Thank you to Louise Yates and staff who have helped create and shape the vision.

 

It is indeed an honor to be with you this afternoon.

 

As I reflect nearly 2 decades and a half since I left this place,

I assert to you that I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the USC Engineering experience and Degree.

 

If it’s true that there is no such thing as luck -- rather it’s merely preparation meeting with opportunity -- then USC certainly afforded me the requisite preparation.

 

So what’s changed since I graduated:

 

There are more opportunities than ever afforded by a career in Engineering.

 

What hasn’t changed

 

It’s just as difficult as ever to negotiate the challenging Engineering curriculum

 

No matter how prepared one is in high school, the Engineering curriculum is hard.

 

I did very well in high school yet when I arrived at USC it hit me like a  “100 KV” electric shock- painful, but obviously, in  my case, not fatal.

 

Socially, I found it a truly lonely experience being a USC Engineer.

I wasn’t alone- many of my classmates felt exactly the same way

 

The workload our student Engineers face today is much more demanding than any other major of which I’m aware.

 

It’s daunting.

 

 

Twenty-four years ago, I could have used a little help from time to time.

 

So too can the USC Engineering students of today and tomorrow.

 

So, now is the time for a little help

 

With KIUEL, help is on the way!

 

What is it?

 

It’s an institute with the sole purpose of making the life of the Undergraduate Engineering Student better…

 

That means easier, balanced, fulfilling, comfortable and at times, bearable

 

Building on existing programs, KIUEL will offer a multiplicity of services including:

 

Counseling (Social as well as Academic)

 

Development (including leadership skills)

 

Tutoring

 

Guidance (Life as well as Career)

 

Mentoring and Coaching (Direction from upper classmen, graduate students, faculty or from those of us in industry.)

 

In short, it will become what it needs to be to fulfill it’s mission.

 

Surprisingly, this is the first of its kind- the first ever Institute dedicated to enhancing undergraduate Engineering Student life

 

It will serve as the voice of human emotion, of kindness in an otherwise cerebral pursuit.

 

What will it do? How will we measure its success?

 

1) Encourage students to enroll in Engineering

 

2) Enable Undergraduate Engineering students to stay enrolled and graduate.

 

Though we are making progress on Undergraduate Engineering Student retention … or the “leaky pipe”…

We lose many of our students to other majors.

 

We still have a lot or work to do.

 

3) Help our students move smoothly on to Graduate school or out into the work place

 

4) And, I hope KIUEL will inspire future Engineering alumni to generously give back to the Virterbi School.

 

They say the mark of a good life is to leave the world a little better off than when we arrived.

 

Natalie and I have two terrific children -Sean and Austin that are bristling with talent, dreams and desire so I remain hopeful that we’ve done that.

 

Hopefully, this little brush stroke on the canvas of USC life will make a difference.

 

If  KIUEL enables one student to stay in school and graduate as a Trojan Engineer, then I will take great pride in knowing that I did a good deed.

 

I made a difference

 

Thank you. Go Trojans!