An enthusiastic crowd celebrated this year’s achievements and individual excellence at the annual Faculty & Staff Awards Luncheon organized by the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

Dean Yannis C. Yortsos talked about how the school wants “to change the conversation about engineering, to change culture.”

Specifically, Yortsos discussed USC Viterbi’s partnership with the National Academy of Engineering and MacGyver creator Lee Zlotoff to hold a global idea competition that could lead to the next great engineering TV series. Except this time the engineering superhero, the “Next MacGyver,” will be a woman.

Although 33 percent of USC Viterbi’s undergraduates are women, compared to a national average of 18 percent, Yortsos said, “We want more. To me, diversity is not a political slogan; it is an essential ingredient for opportunity and innovation.”

John Slaughter, recipient of the Dean’s Faculty Award for Service, with Dean Yannis Yortsos (Photo/Rich-Schmitt)

The dean also shared several of the school’s recent highlights:

• For the third year in a row, USC Viterbi was listed No. 1 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings for Online Graduate Computer Information Technology Programs.
• Last summer, USC Viterbi became home to a new hub of innovation — one of only seven in the nation — aimed at taking innovation from the lab to the market.
• USC Viterbi’s graduate program is among the nation’s top 10, according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings.
• USC Games, a unique collaboration with the USC School of Cinematic Arts, was named the No. 1 games program by The Princeton Review for the sixth consecutive year.

More stories about: Awards, Engineering, Faculty