History Station: Becoming a Research University
USC began to transform itself into a research university during World War II, when the federal government set up several research projects on campus. A human centrifuge, installed in 1943, was used to study the conditions leading to blackout. But it wasn’t until USC President Norman Topping launched the Master Plan for Enterprise and Excellence in Education, which raised nearly $130 million during the 1960s, that research really came into prominence. This station outlines the importance of the Master Plan — the most ambitious fundraising campaign in USC’s history up to that time — in creating today’s USC, including the university’s election into the prestigious Association of American Universities in 1969. Sponsors: Pete Peterson and Charles Dargan