Alumni donate $15 million to USC Dornsife


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USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences announced the Martens Scholars Program, a scholarship program meant to attract top students to USC. The program was made possible by the donation of two Dornsife alumni, Harlan and Linda Martens, who pledged $15 million to create an endowed fund to support students at Dornsife.

Harlan Martens majored in economics and became an attorney for Exxon Mobil, while Linda Martens majored in history  and has been involved in charitable endeavors, including serving as a board member of the National Charity League. Their financial support includes their membership in the USC Associates and the naming of Martens Plaza, located near Leavey Library, in their honor.

The Martens Scholars Program is their second contribution, following a 2013 $1 million donation to endow the Linda and Harlan Martens Endowed Director’s Chair for the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute to help sustain the vision of USC as a top-tier global research university.

The fund provides partial- and full-tuition scholarships for both new and returning students, and sponsors fellowships for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The program will support up to six undergraduates every four years with a full tuition, four-year scholarship in addition to a $5,000 stipend for travel or research. Furthermore, it will fund four more partial-tuition scholarships, two partial-tuition scholarship for transfer students, two two-year fellowships for doctoral and graduate students and two senior fellowships for postdoctoral fellows.

One person whose life has already been impacted by the Martens’ gift is Kelly Chang, a junior transfer to USC Dornsife, who received the first Martens scholarship. Chang transferred from University of California, Irvine, following in the footsteps of her father and her sister, who both attended USC. Chang, who is majoring in cognitive science and pursuing a minor in cinematic arts, shares the Martens’ view about the power of education, something that she learned while on a Los Angeles Zoo sponsored service research trip to South Africa.

“I plan to work for the benefit of disadvantaged students so that they can expand their opportunities,” said Chang, who emulates the Martens’ belief of paying their blessings forward, to USC News.

The Martens stated that their wish is to enable students to learn and innovate in a variety of fields without having to worry about the financial burden of an education. According to Linda Martens, Dornsife was the ideal school to bring their vision of the scholarship to fruition.

“We see this gift as a way to invest in these students’ hopes and dreams,” Linda Martens said to USC News.