Photo by: Steve Cohn
On Friday, May 8th, Dean Yannis C. Yortsos was honored by USC President Beong-Soo Kim, dignitaries, and guests — including Dr. Andrew Viterbi himself — in celebration of his retirement after serving as the longest-tenured dean in the history of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. What unfolded was a day of carefully orchestrated surprises, each one catching the dean off guard and visibly moving a leader who, by all accounts, never sought the spotlight.
The celebrations began with the inaugural board meeting of the newly named USC Mark and Mary Stevens School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence. Made possible by a landmark gift from USC alumnus Mark Stevens and his wife Mary — one of the largest philanthropic commitments in the university’s history — the school’s naming signals USC’s ambitions at the forefront of the AI era. For Yortsos, the moment was deeply personal. He called the Stevens gift “an unequivocal testament to faith in investing in enduring ingenuity and humanity” — a living example of the catalytic philanthropy he had spent two decades cultivating.
Inaugural Board Meeting of the USC Mark and Mary Stevens School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence
At the conclusion of the meeting, President Kim set the tone for the day’s tributes. Describing Yortsos as “beautifully unrealistic” in his unwavering commitment to civil discourse and scientific truth, Kim offered a portrait of the man behind the title. “The impact Yannis has had, not just at USC but across the world — in modeling global connection, in modeling what it means to aspire for academic excellence — has always been anchored in human values of caring, empathy, and community.”
From there, the surprises began in earnest. Pat Sonti — a former student of Yortsos who earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Viterbi in 1980 — joined the dean to honor the Grand Challenges Scholars Program, the initiative Yortsos co-founded in 2009 to educate engineers equipped to tackle the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges, before stunning him with the announcement that the USC chapter of the program had been officially renamed the Yannis C. Yortsos NAE Grand Challenges Scholars Program in his honor.
Sonti sealed the moment by presenting the dean with a t-shirt bearing the program’s new name.
Dean Yortsos and Pat Sonti
The surprises continued as Grand Challenges Scholars Stephanie Bartholomew (B.S. Chemical Engineering ’26) and Mitchell Kirby (B.S. Civil Engineering ’26) stepped forward to present Yortsos with a commemorative plaque and announce the establishment of the Yannis C. Yortsos NAE Grand Challenges Scholars Student Experience Fund — a lasting resource for a program he built and helped expand to nearly one hundred universities worldwide.
Dean Yortsos with GCSP Scholars Stephanie Bartholomew (B.S. Chemical Engineering ’26) and Mitchell Kirby (B.S. Civil Engineering ’26)
The afternoon brought the school’s Board of Councilors together, and once again Yortsos found himself on the receiving end of honors he did not see coming. Dr. Andrew Viterbi offered heartfelt remarks, followed by Jim Baum — former Board Chair and namesake of the Baum Family Maker Space — who presented a personal gift, and Terry Adams, current Board Chair, who added a crystal award. Then the board unveiled what may have been the most sweeping surprise of the day — a full constellation of enduring honors established in Yortsos’s name:
- Yannis C. Yortsos Distinguished Chair in Engineering
- Yannis C. Yortsos USC Chapter of the NAE Grand Challenges Scholars Program
- Yannis C. Yortsos Grand Challenges Scholars Student Experience Fund
- Yannis C. Yortsos Endowed Scholarship, along with additional scholarship support established in his honor
- Yannis C. Yortsos Outstanding Academic Achievement in Chemical Engineering
- Yannis C. Yortsos Undergraduate Research Fellowship
A full constellation of enduring honors
The meeting ended at the USC Viterbi Chair Wall inside Ronald Tutor Hall — where named endowed chairs are enshrined as among the school’s most prestigious honors — as Dr. Viterbi and Dean Yortsos stood together to unveil a new plaque bearing the Yannis C. Yortsos Distinguished Chair in Engineering. It was yet another moment the dean never saw coming, and once again he was visibly moved — a man clearly unprepared for the quiet depth of affection his community had been quietly organizing on his behalf.
That afternoon, the celebration moved to Town and Gown, where a Presidential Event hosted by President Kim brought the day to a fitting close. The most poignant moment came from the dean’s daughter, Kate, herself a Viterbi graduate. Recalling her own time navigating male-dominated engineering classrooms fifteen years earlier, she drew both laughter and tears from the room. “I am so proud of my dad for achieving gender parity in Viterbi’s undergraduate classes today,” she said of one of her father’s signature achievements. To sustained applause, she concluded: “You show us what it means to think deeply, to be bold, to lead with compassion and grace. Our family could not be more proud.”
Kate Yortsos (B.S. Computer Engineering & Computer Science ’11) hugs her father. Photo by: Steve Cohn
In his own remarks, Yortsos redirected the praise. “The reason for this celebration is not a single person,” he said. “It is the incredible Viterbi community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni.” He paid tribute to his wife Sheryl and his family, calling them “the reason I have flourished.”
He closed with a characteristic blend of classical wisdom and forward resolve, invoking the ancient Athenian statesman Solon — one of the seven wise men of Ancient Greece — who urged his compatriots to “not beatify a man before the end.” A person’s true character and legacy, Yortsos explained, can only be fully understood after their journey is complete. “It is with Solon’s exhortation in mind,” he said, “that I only view this event today as a moral obligation to continue whatever part of the journey comes next — serving this institution with the same energy and enthusiasm, helping prepare our students to live well, helping them embrace the singularity of our times, and in the process, to help engineer a better world for all humanity.”
Under Yortsos, the school raised $1.25 billion and 28 faculty members were elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Provost Andrew Guzman captured his legacy simply: “Dean Yortsos’ true legacy is the strength of the Viterbi School, which is greater than it has ever been.”
Yortsos will return to the faculty at year’s end, with Gaurav Sukhatme assuming the role of interim dean on July 1.
Published on June 29th, 2026
Last updated on June 30th, 2026