USC Marshall School of Business

Dear Friends of Marshall:

There are two moments in a school year when we all begin anew. The first is the fall – students arrive loaded with energy, they unpack, their parents make repeated trips to the store for that missing sheet, the necessary lamp, and the packs of required batteries. The slate is clean, the sky is blue, we are all beginning a journey.

The second moment we begin anew is right now: the New Year. We've been together for a semester, had experiences good and bad, tried new things, made new friends, then went home for the holidays. Now we reassemble. There are accomplishments behind us and new mountains to climb in the spring. And some will begin to focus on this, their final semester at USC Marshall before they venture on to the next chapter in their lives.

We can look back to the fall and celebrate our collective Marshall achievements. And we can look forward in anticipation of many known and unknown new avenues of exploration. Among these are:

• A new strategic plan that will provide a bold roadmap for our future.
• The announcement of a new dean of the Leventhal School of Accounting to carry on the outstanding work of Dean Randy Beatty.
• The addition of three new LINC (Learning about International Commerce Program) destinations for our undergraduates: Istanbul, Turkey; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Tokyo, Japan, in addition to continuing trips to: Sydney, Australia; Singapore; Taipei, Taiwan; Mumbai, India; Hong Kong; and Santiago, Chile.
• A new Marshall website that will be a powerful communications tool for prospective and current students, alumni, faculty and staff.
• The launch of six new businesses by student-teams funded by $50,000 from Marshall's Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.
• The premiere of the Dean's Twitter page that will keep alumni, students and friends abreast of exciting Marshall activities and developments as they occur (follow us at http://twitter.com/DeanJimEllis), and
• The awarding of the first James G. Ellis endowed scholarships, by which I am honored and humbled.

USC Marshall School of Business has momentum. We have reassembled, and while we have broken in our requisite lamps and sheets and batteries, once again the sky is blue and we are all beginning yet another journey in a new year loaded with potential.

Join me in supporting student scholarships, faculty research, student travel and the Marshall commitment to educating students to explore the world around them and make it a better place. Every contribution to these noble causes helps us to work towards our goal of USC Marshall being the BEST business school in the world.

2011. It's a New Year, and a new decade. Help us ring it in with vigor!

Fight On!
James G. Ellis, Dean