Prioritizing Students

It was nearly Brianna Sanchez’s moment to present a speech aimed at comforting and motivating an audience at the spring 2025 new student convocation. However, Sanchez, serving as USC undergraduate student government president, required a bit of motivation herself.

On that February day, she discovered it in USC President Carol Folt, who initially addressed the well-attended Bovard Auditorium at USC’s University Park Campus. “She possesses an amazing ability to make individuals feel comfortable and appreciated,” remarks Sanchez, a senior focusing on legal studies at the USC Gould School of Law. “Her encouraging remarks and authentic enthusiasm for my input fostered a nurturing environment that inspired me to express my ideas.”

A personal touch, sincere interest in students, and a talent for making connections have been consistent throughout Folt’s numerous interactions with students during her six-year presidency at USC. She has infused that same passion into creating a variety of initiatives that significantly improve the student experience at the university.

Prioritizing students is a core tenet of Folt’s administration. Each of her six ambitious “moonshot” aspirations centers students, establishing USC as a national vanguard in student access and achievement. Moreover, she has led efforts to amplify student mental health services, enhance advising resources, and prioritize safety across both campuses.

Folt herself has been the principal advocate for all these student-oriented initiatives. Amid the pandemic, she tasked her team with organizing hundreds of events to maintain a connected campus experience for students engaged in remote learning and living. She even organized socially distanced in-person commencement ceremonies — 14 events across seven days — stating that students deserved that experience.

“I am student-centric,” she affirmed at the annual Women’s Conference in March. “They are the engine of my mission in higher education.”

Folt’s student-first philosophy is evident in her six years of achievements.

Upon opening a new Capital Campus in Washington, D.C., Folt mentioned her goal to triple the student enrollment there. During her time, undergraduate applications soared to an all-time high at USC. In the face of the January wildfires, Folt established the Trojan Family Relief Fund to offer support and resources for students, faculty, and staff who experienced displacement or lost their homes.

She frequently addresses a student-organized event or a classroom, participates in a meal at a dormitory, and captures selfies with students during campus gatherings or athletic contests. She embraces these opportunities to connect and inquire—many inquiries—regarding any Trojan’s major, passions, background, or special initiatives they are working on.

Indeed, this rapport with students extends beyond Folt’s tenure at USC.

“Not many presidents and chancellors engage in the way she does,” remarks Houston Summers, a past student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where Folt served as chancellor from 2013-2019. “She possesses the talent to provide direct feedback yet conveys it in a manner that demonstrates her concern for you.”

Folt’s engagements also encompass unannounced visits during students’ moving days at residential halls and personally delivering pizza to Trojans outside Leavey Library right before finals. A recent instance: On a single Saturday in March, Folt attended the Trojan Dance Marathon at Tommy’s Place on the University Park Campus. Later that day, she celebrated the USC men’s tennis team’s win against Purdue and the USC women’s water polo team’s triumph over Indiana. This followed an intense week where she gave two significant State of the University addresses, participated in two panels at the USC Women’s Conference, and conducted an in-person interview with USC’s dual student media outlets, alongside several other meetings. Folt’s enthusiasm was, as per usual, unwavering. “I truly cherish her and her cheerful spirit,” comments USC Vice President for Student Life Monique S. Allard, who often joins Folt at various campus events. “She’s perpetually seeking to connect with students. She desires to share joy and cultivate happiness.”

ENHANCING ACCESS AND SPACES

An initial illustration of Folt’s dedication to students is the affordability initiative she introduced shortly after assuming her role. Students from U.S. families earning $80,000 annually or less could now experience USC tuition-free. This initiative became a fundamental component of what is referred to as the USC Competes moonshot, aiming to position USC as a premiere institution that attracts and retains the brightest minds.

Folt also initiated the President’s High-Tech Scholars program in 2023, which provides scholarships and additional support for transfer students from community colleges focusing on computing and technology studies. She actively seeks funding for other student scholarship initiatives. “Her guidance in these areas has transformed how people perceive interactions with students, support for students, and the overall student experience from every perspective,” Allard remarks. “Students are prioritized in everything we undertake.”

Folt has literally reconfigured student spaces at USC. She directed a significant renovation of the cultural centers that tripled the size of these areas within the Gwynn Wilson Student Union building. The modifications resulted in less-crowded environments for Asian Pacific American Student Services; Latinx Chicanx Center for Advocacy and Student Affairs; and the LGBTQ+ and Native American & Pasifika Student Lounges—spaces utilized by all USC students that have welcomed thousands more students since the renovations than in prior years.

The concept for the new spaces materialized shortly after she arrived at USC and observed firsthand the confined, cramped conditions they had been working with.

“We used to pack people into one room, and you couldn’t lift your arms to yell, ‘Fight On!’ at the end,” Folt stated during the reopening celebration of the Asian Pacific American Student Services space. “It was extremely tight. We required more space.”

She also established the First Generation Plus Success program at Ronald Tutor Campus Center, designed to assist first-generation students, transfer students, and former foster youth, among others.

“It was a substantial investment of time, energy, and attention, and the student engagement rates have surged,” Allard comments. “Since then, students have definitely been flocking to all those areas.”

“From her initial days here as president, she showed great interest in visiting spaces where students socialize, relax, study, and gather,” Allard notes. “She desired to experience everything, be everywhere, and converse with students. She recognized from the outset that we needed to enlarge and improve student spaces.”

STUDENTS AND SUSTAINABILITY

Early in her tenure, Folt devised a method for students to merge their passion for sustainability with their academic pursuits by initiating the President’s Sustainability Internship Program and the Presidential Working Group on Sustainability. In 2023, she also introduced the Presidential Sustainability Solutions Fellowship, enabling Trojans to tackle the planet’s various environmental challenges through interdisciplinary research.

This fall, Folt’s dedication to embedding sustainability within the student experience culminated in the grand opening of the 1,500-square-foot USC Sustainability Hub located on the ground floor of the Student Union building—a vital aspect of her Sustainability moonshot.

Graduate student Skylar Funk at the USC Thornton School of Music is among those who have spent substantial time in the hub since its inauguration.

“I am an enthusiastic supporter of President Folt’s leadership on sustainability,” states Funk, a member of the Student Sustainability Committee of the president’s Working Group on Sustainability.

Funk adds that Folt’s establishment of the student group “has focused on amplifying students’ voices regarding sustainability initiatives and providing the necessary structure and institutional backing to bring those ideas to fruition.”

The hub serves as a collaborative, inclusive, multi-functional gathering space for students, researchers, and staff, all aimed at promoting sustainability.

“What’s particularly significant to me is that this [space] welcomes students of all backgrounds constantly,” Folt stated at the opening, which attracted over 1,000 attendees. “Now they can all collaborate on this shared enthusiasm for sustainability.”

‘WE’RE GOING TO MISS YOU SO MUCH’

Student-athletes on USC’s men’s and women’s sports teams have grown accustomed to seeing Folt cheering them on during competition days for the past six years.

At each home football game, Folt can be observed strolling alongside the student section, enthusiastically engaging in a series of high-fives and taking selfies with Trojan fans seated in the front rows of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In addition to being the Trojans’ foremost supporter, Folt has advocated for initiatives that enable student-athletes to compete at elite levels by enhancing and expanding facilities.

Folt has sourced funds for capital projects including improvements to Galen Center, initiating construction on the Bloom Football Performance Center, and the establishment of the state-of-the-art Rawlinson Stadium for USC’s women’s soccer and lacrosse teams.

She has also propelled the momentum for the construction and enhancement of facilities to support all 21 sports programs, propelling USC Athletics into a new era with its integration into the Big Ten Conference.

Folt’s enthusiasm spans all sports. She consistently attends both women’s and men’s basketball games at Galen Center and regularly visits the David X. Marks Tennis Stadium, Uytengsu Aquatics Center, Rawlinson Stadium, and Allyson Felix Field at Katherine B. Loker Track Stadium & Colich Center, among other sports venues.

Athletes and coaches have expressed their gratitude for her support. USC women’s soccer team forward Simone Jackson presented Folt with the game ball last November, shortly after Folt announced her upcoming retirement from USC in July.

“Your presence is always felt,” Jackson, a senior at USC Marshall School of Business, conveyed to her. “We’re truly going to miss you. We want you at our games forever.”

Folt, visibly touched, embraced Jackson and said to the team, “You truly are what it’s all about for me.”