Dean, Viterbi School of Engineering, USC

Yortsos, a longtime USC Viterbi School of Engineering faculty member and administrator, became the school’s dean in 2005. The Viterbi School, founded in 1905, has a total enrollment of 9,227 students – 2,923 undergraduate and 6,304 graduate students – and more than 300 total faculty members. March saw the opening of the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition, focused on research to speed the transition to low carbon energy sources. Construction is set to finish next year on a 116,000-square foot computer science building funded primarily by philanthropists Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg. A native of Greece, Yortsos joined the Viterbi School’s chemical engineering department in 1978, chaired that department in the 1990s, then rose through USC’s administrative ranks.

YEARS ON THE LA500: 7