The Viterbi Ethos Project

We propose a new initiative in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering called the Viterbi Ethos Project (VEP).  The Viterbi Ethos Project seeks to enrich within Viterbi students the practices and values of character that will distinguish a Viterbi engineer graduate.
This effort will be housed in an academic unit at Viterbi to be developed, The Engineering Humanities Program (formally the Engineering Writing Program). The Engineering Humanities Program will offer curricular and co-curricular courses and programs that support the development of character, identity and purpose. It will be the natural home for the Viterbi Ethos Project. 

At present, there is no explicit academic program in most schools of engineering to coordinate and guide the significant curricular and extra-curricular transformation needed. Our goal with this proposal is to pilot a series of co-curricular and extra-curricular projects to provide specific and purposeful opportunities for Viterbi students to develop this important complement to our vision for our engineering graduates. These smaller projects are designed to be the first phase of a larger, ongoing effort to embed within the Viterbi culture sustained school- and department-based course modules and activities to provide humanities-related education that helps enrich the wholistic education of engineering students.