Steven Sample

Steven B. Sample, a tenured professor in the Engineering faculty at the University of Southern California, served as the university's tenth president from 1991 to 2010. He earned B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by age 24. Sample began his academic career as an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Purdue University and held faculty positions at the University of Illinois and University of Nebraska, where he also served as vice president for academic affairs and graduate dean from 1974 to 1982. Previously, as president of the State University of New York at Buffalo from 1982 to 1991, he maintained a faculty appointment in the electrical engineering department. His inventions include patented digital appliance controls and touch pads licensed to manufacturers and used in over 300 million home appliances worldwide.

At USC, Sample co-taught the undergraduate course 'The Art and Adventure of Leadership' with Warren Bennis. Under his leadership, the university doubled sponsored research funding to $430 million annually, tripled freshman applications, enhanced diversity and selectivity, and completed the $2.85 billion 'Building on Excellence' campaign, the largest fundraising effort in U.S. higher education history at the time, which included five gifts over $100 million and funded expansions like the Viterbi School of Engineering’s Ronald Tutor Hall. He oversaw USC's first Nobel Prize in 1994 and attracted renowned faculty. Sample was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1998 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, received the IEEE Founders Medal, and earned honorary doctorates from Purdue University, University of Notre Dame, Northeastern University, University of Nebraska, Hebrew Union College, University of Sheffield, Canisius College, D’Youville College, and SUNY Buffalo. He authored the Los Angeles Times bestselling book The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership, translated into five languages, along with numerous journal articles and papers in science, engineering, and higher education. Sample chaired the Association of American Universities and co-founded the Association of Pacific Rim Universities.