University of Southern California Announces Partnership with Mount Vernon Estate

The USC Sol Price School of Public Policy announced its partnership with The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon on Tuesday afternoon.

Thanks to the support of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association Vice Regent Maribeth Borthwick ’73 and William Borthwick, the Price School and the Library have  established the Partnership for the Study of George Washington at USC and Mount Vernon.

The partnership will provide students and faculty at USC Price with opportunities to better understand Washington’s impact on the fields of governance, planning, public policy, and leadership, according to a press release issued by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Capitalizing on the tremendous resources of the Library, this program will facilitate unique research and programming opportunities at USC and Mount Vernon.  David Sloane, a USC Price Professor and Director of Undergraduate Programs, will direct the program elements at USC.

“We are tremendously excited to partner with Mount Vernon to develop this unique leadership program at its new library. The legacy of George Washington will serve as a powerful inspiration to students at the Price School who, like Washington himself, seek to positively impact policy and government for the common good of all citizens,” USC Price School of Public Policy Dean Jack H. Knott said in a statement.

“I am thrilled to support the establishment of the Partnership for the Study of George Washington at USC and Mount Vernon,” Maribeth Borthwick said in a release issued by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. “As an alumna of USC and a California resident, I know how important it is to bring a little of Mount Vernon and George Washington to California. The University is ideally suited to partner with the Library to honor the legacy of Washington and imbue the next generation of our nations’ leaders with the exemplary standards of civic responsibility and leadership that our founding father possessed.”

The Price School was selected from among dozens of west coast universities, both for its academic reputation and national ranking, as well as its commitment to the values that George Washington represented.

“The USC Price School is truly an ideal partner for us,” Vice President for The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington Stewart McLaurin said in a release. “There are tremendous parallels between the professional accomplishments of George Washington and the academic disciplines in the Price School.  George Washington was a planner, surveyor, military leader, and of course, one of our nation’s finest chief executives – all noble academic and professional fields that students pursue at the Price School.”

The first public activity of the new partnership will be the Borthwick Lecture Series on George Washington, an annual lecture program devoted to the life and legacy of George Washington. The first lecture, titled “Washington’s Leadership and His Vision of the American West,” will take place on October 17 at Mount Vernon.

The event will feature USC Professor Kevin Starr, who will discuss Washington’s avid personal interest in frontier expansion and how it shaped the nation’s approach to the American West.

The Price School will seek additional funds to expand the Partnership for the Study of George Washington at USC and Mount Vernon to support activities including undergraduate and graduate student educational opportunities at Mount Vernon to allow students to pursue research projects that explore aspects of Washington’s leadership and presidential legacy; and faculty research opportunities at the Library.