By Katherine Yungmee Kim
October 2004

Jane Goodall, the famed primatologist, delivered a speech in the Bovard Auditorium at the University of Southern California on Oct. 25. A crowd of more than 1,000, mostly students, welcomed Goodall with a standing ovation.

“She is a pioneering scientist,” said Craig Stanford, chair of the anthropology department, who has worked with Goodall for over 15 years. He commended her “tireless” efforts to make the world aware of pressing environmental and conservation issues.

Goodall has been a Distinguished Adjunct Professor in the USC College Department of Anthropology and the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy since 1990.  She discussed her life work with the wild chimpanzees in Tanzania, her efforts to better the world through individual responsibility, and her reasons for hope.

“Every individual matters,” Goodall said. “And every day you live, you make an impact on the world around you. We are not in this world to make money and accumulate things. We are looking for meaning in life — like finding ways to make the world a better place.”

USC created the Jane Goodall Research Center, which analyzes her many years of field data and videos. A computer interactive multimedia archive of these materials is being implemented to make them available to students, faculty and other interested scholars.

The Center is co-directed by Stanford and anthropology Professor Chris Boehm.