When USC announced that Beong-Soo Kim would serve as interim president after the retirement of Carol Folt last year, he was not in the candidate mix to lead the sprawling 46,000-student campus. Kim follows Folt — who joined USC’s faculty in July after six years at the helm — and confronts challenging terrain at USC and in higher education. Kim recently co-hosted USC’s first AI conference, and the campus made a $3.1-million ChatGPT subscription purchase for faculty, staff and students. It included 11 trustees in addition to faculty, staff and one student from the Thornton School of Music. “Thanks to her USC education, my mom went on to become a third-grade public school teacher.

Source: Los Angeles Times February 05, 2026 05:48 UTC