Posted 5/2/2008

Sorensen to speak at Arnold School’s
21st Hooding Ceremony

USC President Dr. Andrew Sorensen says public health professionals are duty bound to use the results of their research to develop outreach programs to improve the health of the public.

That is the crux of the retiring president’s address at the Arnold School’s 21st Annual Hooding Ceremony on May 8 at 9:00 a.m. in the Koger Center for the Arts.

Dr. Andrew Sorensen

The Thursday ceremony, will be attended by hundreds of graduates, family, friends and well-wishers, also will recognize selected faculty and students for scholarship and public service.

A highlight of the program will be the presentation of the Norman J. and Gerry Sue Arnold awards. The school is named in honor of Norman Arnold, a longtime supporter and its largest benefactor.

Sorensen’s address, titled “The Scholarship of Engagement,” will be a call for public health workers “to take research to the community, develop new programs and gather feedback to determine is what you’re doing is having any effect,” he said.

Dr. Tom Chandler, interim dean will preside over the presentation of degrees to some 100 graduates from the school’s six departments.

Sorensen, 69, has headed USC for the past six years. When he retires on July 31, he will take a short sabbatical and then rejoin the university with joint faculty appointments in the school of public health and the school of medicine.

In addition, he will hold the titles of distinguished professor and distinguished president emeritus.
Sorensen said his pre-retirement schedule is daunting, with more than 100 meetings on his calendar. He said he is going to use the sabbatical to catch up on readings in public health in preparation for his return to teaching, research, and outreach.

Sorensen and his wife, Donna are searching for a home in the Columbia area. Sorensen said he put a down payment on a condominium but the contract was voided when the developer was unable to obtain financing for the project because of the banking crisis.

Sorensen came to USC from the University of Alabama where he had been president since 1996.

Previously, he was provost and vice president of academic affairs at the University of Florida for six years. He also served as executive director of the AIDS Institute at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions; director of the School of Public Health at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst; and was on the faculty at Lincoln University, the University of Rochester and Cornell University.

He holds bachelor’s degrees in history and divinity from the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana and Yale University, respectively; a master of public health degree from the University of Michigan; a master of philosophy degree from Yale; and a doctorate in medical sociology, also from Yale.