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Alumni Honor Founding MBV Director Robert Turrill with Commemorative Plaque

Alumni Honor Founding MBV Director Robert Turrill with Commemorative Plaque

Through mentorship and commitment, the founding director of the Master of Business for Veterans’ program has inspired Trojans in and out of the classroom.

by: Alexander Bernard
10.21.25
Robert Turrill and MBV alumni at the event.

Robert Turrill (center, front) with members of MBV Cohorts I-VI.

[USC Photo]

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“When I think of a Trojan and what you're supposed to exemplify, [Robert Turrill] epitomizes that,” said Jessica Felix ’07, MBV ’17, a manager at Deloitte.

Felix, along with fellow Cohort IV alumnus Eddie Arambula MAT’16, MBV ’17, facilitated fundraising for a commemorative plaque to honor Robert Turrill, professor emeritus of clinical management and organization and the first academic director of the Master of Business for Veterans (MBV) program. Collectively, MBV Cohorts I through VI raised over $10,000 to support MBV scholarships. On October 10, Turrill joined Felix, Arambula, and members of the MBV community for the installation and dedication of the plaque in the courtyard between Fertitta and Popovich Halls.

Both Arambula and Felix are veterans of the United States Army, with Arambula serving eight additional years in the U.S. Coast Guard. The pair faced challenges in the transition to civilian life, but in and outside the classroom, Turrill encouraged vulnerability and camaraderie, allowing his students to find bonds through their hardships.

“A lot of places tell you not to bring your military experience into the classroom. It’s not welcome,” Arambula said. “But he really created a space where we could learn, where we could be vulnerable, where we could just become better leaders.”

Turrill is a veteran himself, having served in the Army from 1957 to 1963. When Felix and Arambula took his leadership course, they saw firsthand how the professor used his own service to inform his teachings, infusing lesson plans with stories and life lessons. Throughout the class, he urged students to face their own personal challenges head-on and use them in their coursework.

“It was really a life-changing experience,” Arambula said. “It begins with you as an individual working towards that best version of yourself — using the material, using his lectures, using your own self-reflection, using your military experience and your personal experience.”

According to Felix, Turrill cultivated an atmosphere free of judgment.

“It was come as you are,” Felix said. “Let’s go into who you are, your weaknesses and your strengths and what you’re trying to become … This is who you are now, but let’s take it a step further and see who you can become just by going through this program.”

“When I think of a Trojan and what you're supposed to exemplify, [Robert Turrill] epitomizes that.”

— Jessica Felix MBV ’17

Manager, Deloitte

Turrill and his dedicated MBV staff facilitated a fellowship that would last a lifetime. For Felix and Arambula, the bonds formed at USC resembled those formed in the military.

“It was like we were back in the service — brothers and sisters — just with a different mission of working on those skill sets to transition and building each other up,” Arambula said. “It wasn’t competitive, it was for each other.”

After graduation, Turrill remained a mentor for Arambula, writing him a letter of recommendation to his PhD program at Texas State University and later providing feedback on his dissertation. The pair have since co-authored a book compiling first-person narratives that chronicled veterans’ return to civilian life, shedding light on their ensuing daily struggles.

Arambula, Felix, and dozens of alumni from the first six MBV cohorts showed their gratitude and admiration for the now-retired Turrill at the plaque installation ceremony at the Fertitta-Popovich courtyard.

“We want [the plaque] to be immortalized on campus,” Felix said. “We want it there so that when other students see it, they can see what an impact he has made.”

The work continues for Robert Turrill. To this day, the former academic director continues to mentor and inspire his students, setting the standard for Trojans like Arambula.

“He is the model and from my experience … he’s still setting that model for who I want to be when I grow up,” Arambula said. “That really carries into our families and to the USC alumni network and Trojan students.”

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