The University of Southern California (USC) has announced a $59 million gift from Leonard D. Schaeffer and his wife, Pamela, to establish a public policy institute at the school’s Washington, D.C., campus.

The Leonard D. Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service will provide a permanent research and policy presence for the university in the nation’s capital and serve as a launching pad for interdisciplinary research and policy development to address national and global challenges in close collaboration with leading government and academic institutions. To that end, the institute will absorb the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics and the Leonard D. Schaeffer Fellows in Government Service program and expand their existing policy research initiatives drawing on faculty from all 23 USC schools.

“The Schaeffer Institute will be an invaluable resource for education and scholarship, not just for Schaeffer scholars and its affiliated experts but for faculty members and students from multiple disciplines across USC,” said institute director Dana Goldman, who will also remain co-director of the Schaeffer Center. “Their ability to use our Capital Campus office to more easily engage with policymakers will give them far more impact.”

“Our country is experiencing a series of challenges that are unique in our history,” said Leonard Schaeffer, a USC trustee and vice chair of the Brookings Institution and founder and former CEO of Wellpoint (now Elevance Health). “We are facing many difficult issues around the world....Here at home, we are experiencing the loss of faith in science and government. The institute will...provide the analysis and facts necessary to counter erosion in public discourse and promote more effective policy solutions.”

(Photo credit: Wikimedia/APK)