How the Pullias Lecture series got its start

The Pullias Lecture series, which brings a national leader in higher education to speak at USC each year, has been going strong since 1979. It’s brought to campus many university presidents and chancellors, leaders of major foundations, and even a former United States Secretary of Education.

Now, 40 years later, the story of the lecture’s beginnings has been captured in a memoir by Leslie Wilbur, professor emeritus at the USC Rossier School of Education.

In the self-published book, titled Destination USC: Via Luck, Pluck, and the GI Bill, Wilbur explains that plans for the lecture series began when Earl V. Pullias, then professor of higher education at USC, decided to retire. Former students wanted to present him with a retirement gift, so Wilbur, who was the chair of the USC School of Education at the time, asked Pullias how he wanted the funds to be used.

Pullias immediately asked for a lecture series. “In retrospect I realize that he must have anticipated my question,” Wilbur writes. “He responded without any hesitation in a way that was both unconventional and unexpected.”

The vision for the series was quite specific, according to Wilbur, who details Pullias’ requests: “The lecturers should be national leaders in higher education,” They would be invited to the USC campus to speak on a topic of their choice to School of Education students, as well as other university students, faculty, and administrators. Printed copies of the lectures should be sent to other university libraries.”

A major fundraising effort ensued, with Wilbur and his wife making their donation early and anonymously, so that the letter that was sent out to potential donors “could say almost honestly we had been encouraged by generous anonymous donors.” The effort was successful; in 1978, former USC President Norman Topping served as the series’ first speaker.

Wilbur too left his mark on USC when he, his wife, and a friend, Dr. Evelyn Kieffer, established a professorship in the school of education, with the stipulation that this professor would be responsible for continuing the lecture series. The current Wilbur-Kieffer Professor of Higher Education is William G. Tierney, co-director of the Pullias Center of Higher Education.

More colorful details about USC’s history abound in Destination USC, which also captures Wilbur’s earlier days, from growing up working class in Modesto, California to serving in the military as a clinical laboratory technician to becoming a professor at USC. Wilbur today lives in retirement in Hawaii, but remains an active supporter of the Pullias Center and the Pullias Lecture series.

Earlier: Experience the 40th Pullias Lecture: Video, photos, and Twitter moments