Vice Provost for Undergraduate Programs to step down June 30


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Vice Provost for Undergraduate Programs Andrea Hodge will step down from her administrative position, effective June 30. Hodge will return to focus on her professorship at Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science in the Viterbi School of Engineering.

“I would like to express my gratitude to Vice Provost Hodge for her exemplary work in this role,” Executive Vice Provost Elizabeth Graddy said in a communitywide email Thursday. 

Hodge has served in her vice provost role since July 2016. Her tenure was marked by her work with the Norman Topping Student Aid Fund Board, where she updated the scholarship’s 40-year-old charter and expanded the program to include Topping Scholar and Fellow recipients. Hodge also worked to increase the reach of the Kortschak Center for Learning and Creativity, a center for academic and career coaching services at USC. 

“It has been a great joy to spend time with students from all schools and majors and learn about their motivation and passion for their chosen field,” Hodge said in an email to the Daily Trojan. “I have also very much enjoyed and appreciated the hard work and dedication of the [Undergraduate Programs] staff, who work behind the scenes, to improve and expand the programming and services that make the USC academic experience valuable and memorable.” 

Hodge also worked with the Undergraduate Student Government to implement the transfer forgiveness program. The program was originally offered only to first-year freshmen to retake up to three classes in which they received grades of D+ or lower in their first two semesters at USC. 

In addition to her post on the provost’s leadership team, Hodge has held the Arthur B. Freeman Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering position, an endowed professorship approved by the USC president in recognition of exceptional distinction, for 13 years. She also supervises the Hodge Materials Nanotechnology Research group in the aerospace and mechanical engineering department.

“Her efforts have exemplified USC’s commitment to providing a world-class education centered on the diverse needs of undergraduate learners,” Graddy said. “I wish her well in her return to the faculty.”