Max Nikias, the president of the University of Southern California, has resigned after hundreds of USC professors signed a letter demanding that he step down. Nikias was involved in a series of scandals, including the mishandling of reports that a gynecologist at the campus health center had been inappropriate to students, and mistreated them for decades.
The interim president is Wanda M. Austin, the first woman and the first African-American to hold this position at USC. Austin is an engineer, and the former corporate chief executive. She is known for her work in aeronautics and systems engineering, as well as being selected by President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, a group containing the nations leading engineers and scientists.
“Mrs Austin is the ideal person to steer the university on a clear path forward as we advance our ambitious initiatives,” said Rick Caruso, the chairman of the university board of trustees.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/07/us/usc-president-cl-max-nikias-wanda-austin.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
