Creating Southern California

Creating Southern California. University of Southern California. , When USC was founded in 1880, there were few avenues open to ambitious young Angelenos, who sought training in the different professions. Aspiring physicians were forced to leave the region to attend medical school in other cities, and future lawyers apprenticed themselves to practicing attorneys to learn about the law. , Within five years, however, USC had begun establishing itself as the principal educator of professionals in Los Angeles. The University went on to pioneer such fields as public administration, social work, gerontology and urban planning, and today, many Southern California occupations continue to be dominated by professionals who were educated at USC. The universities professional schools are nationally and internationally, renowned, and no Southern California institution can match the university’s influence in such a broad range of professional Arenas. , Medicine , The USC School of Medicine, founded in 1885, was the first accredited medical school in Southern California. It is located on the Health Sciences Campus, east of downtown Los Angeles. , Dentistry , USC was the first institution in Southern California to train students in dentistry. Classes began in 1897, in response to requests from the university’s medical students. , Law , Southern California’s first law school, established in 1896, as the Los Angeles Law Students’ Association and later incorporated under the under the name, “Los Angeles Law School,” became affiliated with USC in 1900. , Pharmacy , Founded in 1905, the USC School of Pharmacy was the first school to offer training in pharmacy in Southern California. It is located on the Health Sciences campus, east of downtown Los Angeles. , Engineering , Engineering instruction at USC began in 1906, with the organization of a civil engineering department, and a course in electrical engineering in the Department of Physics. A separate engineering school was formally established in 1925. , Education , The USC Board of Trustees authorized courses in education as early as 1895, but it wasn’t until 1909 that the department of education was established. In 1911, the university became the first institution in the Southland to be accredited to train secondary teachers, and in 1918, USC established its School of Education. , Architecture , An outgrowth of the School of Fine Arts, the USC School of Architecture is the oldest school of its kind in the region. Beginning as a department of architecture in 1919, it was re-organized into a school of architecture in 1925, and for more than four decades, the school offered the only fully accredited professional architecture degree in the region. , Business Administration , Originally called the College of Commerce and Business Administration, the USC School of Business Administration is the oldest business school in Southern California. Founded in 1920, it was created in response to demand from the business community. , Social Work , USC’s School of Social Work, the only private school of social work in the West, dates, back to 1920, when it was established as a division in the Department of Sociology. It became a separate school in 1937 and in 1952 offered the West’s first doctoral degree program in social work. , Cinema-Television , The nation’s top-ranked film program was established in 1929, in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The first university to offer a bachelor’s degree in film, USC has consistently graduated alumni who have had an unparalleled impact on the field. The school of Cinema-Television became a separate entity in 1983. , Gerontology , In 1964, USC founded the Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center to facilitate the study of aging. Eleven years later, in 1975, the university created the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, the nation’s first gerontology school, as the center’s principal education and training division. , Urban Planning and Development , The School of Urban Planning and Development, the nation’s first independent school of urban planning, was founded in 1974 as the School of Urban and Regional Planning. The groundwork for the school was laid in 1921, however, when USC offered its first classes in planning and development. , Public Administration , In 1929, USC responded to the requests of local officials and established the School of Public Administration, the first such school west of the Mississippi, and only the second founded in the United States.