Wanda Austin Is the New Leader of the University of Southern California

The board of trustees of the University of Southern California has chosen Wanda M. Austin as interim president of the university. She will serve while the university conducts a search for a permanent president to replace C.L. Max Nikias who resigned after a series of allegations were raised about the university’s handling of alleged sexual abuse by a university physician.

Dr. Austin is the co-founder of MakingSpace Inc. and a systems engineering and leadership development consultant. From 2008 to 2016, she was president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to the application of science and technology relating to the nation’s space program. She was the first woman and the first African American to serve as CEO of the organization since its founding in 1961.

Dr. Austin has been a member of the board of trustees of the University of Southern California since 2010. She also sits on the board of Chevron and Amgen Inc., and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Dr. Austin  is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She holds a master’s degree in systems engineering and mathematics from the University of Pittsburgh and a doctorate in systems engineering from the University of Southern California.

Related Articles

1 COMMENT

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

Recent Books of Interest to African American Scholars

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. The books included are on a wide variety of subjects and present many different points of view.

North Carolina A&T State University Mounts Effort to Educate Heirs Property Owners

Heirs property is land passed down through a family, often over multiple generations and to numerous descendants, without the use of wills or probate courts. In North Carolina, the value of land owned as heirs property is estimated at nearly $1.9 billion. Heirs property is disproportionately held by Black landowners.

Higher Education Grants or Gifts of Interest to African Americans

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

New Legislation Aims to Boost Entrepreneurial Efforts of HBCU Students

Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05) has introduced the Minority Entrepreneurship Grant Program Act, bipartisan legislation that creates a grant program with the Small Business Administration for entrepreneurs at minority-serving institutions like historically Black colleges and universities.

Featured Jobs