‘Be bold and daring’: USC President Beong-Soo Kim delivers his first State of the University addresses

When Beong-Soo Kim became interim president of USC in July, he immediately promoted the idea of open dialogue on campus. Seven months later, Kim used his State of the University addresses — his first major speeches as USC’s 13th president — to continue to champion openness and integrity while outlining his vision for the university as a whole.

“I stand here with the greatest humility, in front of all of you, for the responsibility I’ve been entrusted with,” Kim said Tuesday morning on the University Park Campus in front of nearly 700 attendees packed into Bovard Auditorium. “I wouldn’t have been so excited about taking on this responsibility if I didn’t feel excited every single morning when I wake up about where we’re going, where we can go and how we can get there.”

The day before, Kim had addressed another crowded venue: Mayer Auditorium at the Health Sciences Campus. Thousands more watched both addresses via livestream. In both speeches, Kim offered his plans for continuing USC’s research and academic excellence, and his commitment to the university’s mission.

“This job is not about me,” Kim said at Tuesday’s address — for which he received a standing ovation when he concluded. “This job is about all of you, and my key responsibility is to always put the long-term mission and interest of the university first and foremost, above everything else — including myself.”

Brighter days

Kim began both speeches by highlighting USC’s mission of academic excellence, innovative research and community impact. Kim said that there are three key pillars that provide the foundation to accomplish these goals: strong finances, the support of the Trojan Family and good communication.

At both addresses, Kim shared an acronym that outlined his guiding principles for how he intends to extend the university’s impact and position USC to “leap ahead”: PICOF, which stands for partnership, innovation, collaboration, operational excellence and focus.

All of those principles, Kim said, are intended to fulfill key passages from USC’s mission statement, which Kim repeatedly cited as touchstones for his presidency.

“I don’t believe there’s a university that’s better positioned to lead in addressing some of our world’s greatest challenges,” Kim said at the University Park Campus address. “We are doing work at USC that promises to develop a cure for Alzheimer’s, for Parkinson’s, for blindness, for cancer … that’s what motivates me.”

Kim looked ahead at opportunities for the university that coincide with major events in the Los Angeles area. He highlighted major athletic events such as this year’s FIFA World Cup, next year’s Super Bowl and the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games as ways for USC to bolster its image on the world stage.

“This is our opportunity to clearly put the stake in the ground as the sports capital of the world,” Kim said. “We have the talent and we have the academic programs and the leadership to really bring it all together.”

For some students, like senior Mikaela Bautista, Kim’s honesty about where the university was when he became interim president and where it is now was refreshing to hear.

“I really appreciated how he led with gratitude,” said Bautista, a business administration major at the USC Marshall School of Business and Undergraduate Student Government president. “I appreciated that he addressed that the university has been in a tough position financially and had to make a lot of hard decisions. At the end of the day, he’s grateful for the support from the Trojan Family and from the staff and faculty really leaning on each other to get through these challenging times.”

USG Vice President Emma Fallon attended Tuesday’s event with Bautista and said that working with Kim for the past seven months has shown that he is the right person to move USC forward.

“He’s a problem solver,” said Fallon, a senior at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. “He’s been really open to listening to us, and that clearly shows in his work and the progress he’s made in such a short time.”

Furthering USC’s research and medical excellence

In his first State of the University address on Monday morning to about 260 faculty, staff and clinicians at the Health Sciences Campus, Kim focused on how the standard of research and patient care at Keck Medicine of USC and the Keck School of Medicine of USC remains as high as ever. He stressed that this level of excellence would continue under his watch.

“Every single day when I wake up, my job is to advance USC and the health system and extend our impact, reach our potential and enable all of you to do the incredible work that you do,” he said.

That also extends to the cutting-edge medical research — including developments in genomics and AI — that places USC on the forefront of what Kim called “the most exciting and promising time in medicine and the health sciences ever in the history of humankind.”

“We are now positioned as a research community to, instead of just treating diseases, figuring out how to proactively prevent them from occurring in the first place,” Kim said.

Kim’s words appeared to instill confidence in the audience on Monday, many of whom voiced their support for the new president during the Q&A.

“We are all excited and fired up that you are our leader,” said Inderbir Gill, executive director of the USC Institute of Urology. Gill emphasized that, though USC is a “hotbed” of innovation, “we are competing with the private industry that moves very fast and has incredible resources.”

In response, Kim stressed the importance of keeping pace with other research hubs.

“We need to all leave here with a sense of urgency because this window of opportunity for us to lead and develop solutions that the world needs — and is counting on USC to deliver — is not going to stay open,” Kim said.

For Carolyn Meltzer, dean of the Keck School of Medicine, Kim’s words match not only his mission, but also that of the medical school.

“President Kim’s vision and approach align with the Keck School of Medicine’s in advancing education, research and clinical care,” Meltzer said. “Focus, collaboration, innovation and a sense of urgency are vital to finding solutions to the world’s toughest health care issues and to creating the health leaders of tomorrow.”

Championing open dialogue

Kim also emphasized his commitment to the free exchange of ideas. “We’re a university — we should treasure dialogue,” Kim said during his University Park Campus speech. “I want to thank everyone for creating that kind of environment where we can support different ideas even if we disagree with them.” He added that part of creating a welcoming environment on campus for open dialogue means taking a step back institutionally to let faculty, staff and students do the talking.

During Kim’s address to the Health Sciences Campus on Monday, an audience member asked him about his stance on institutional neutrality, and how that fosters a culture of openness.

“Institutional restraint is something that applies to me, not to you,” Kim responded. “Your job is to be bold and daring and tell the truth.”

For Kim, that commitment to telling the truth and having tough conversations has been on display since he first stepped into the interim role after having served as USC’s senior vice president and general counsel. Now, Kim said he is looking forward to what the future holds for USC.

“I’ve been in the trenches with you, and I could not be more excited about rolling up the sleeves and getting to work, not just over the next month, but over the next number of years,” Kim said on Monday morning at the Health Sciences Campus. “It’s just a humbling, humbling responsibility, and I couldn’t be more excited about it.”