Kay Albitz

Kay Albitz was a 20-year-old sophomore at USC Dornsife studying linguistics and Japanese when she received a scholarship from the John Mayr Foundation. Albitz worked throughout her undergraduate experience, tutoring students and selling classified advertising at her local newspaper. Her Mayr Foundation scholarship lessened her financial need and allowed her to focus on her studies. At the scholarship award ceremony, she remembers a donor telling her to remember to pay it forward once she had the ability.

Paying it Forward

Inspired by the generosity of others toward her decades ago, Albitz has consistently given to USC Dornsife since just a few years after her graduation. “Someone helped me,” she says. “I am grateful and fortunate for that. And I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to help others like the generous donors who helped me.”

Today, Albitz works as an International Marine Scheduler for the energy company Chevron in San Ramon, California. In that capacity, she manages complex logistics, and supply chain and compliance challenges. Albitz looks back to her USC Dornsife experience as “an excellent foundation” for the skills that she uses on the job. “This job requires critical thinking skills, problem solving, communication skills and attention to detail,” she says. “I certainly developed all of those skills at USC Dornsife.”

Trip Down Memory Lane

Beyond her academic experiences at USC Dornsife, Albitz has a number of fond memories from her college years. Her Japanese professor, Sumako Kimizuka, helped land her a job tutoring women and children from Japan in English. Albitz’s connection to these families led to her first post-graduation job, working for a Japan Airlines subsidiary that traded jet fuel. “That job opened the door to a career in aviation sales, supply, and logistics and, in turn, to my work at Chevron,” she says. Shortly after graduation, she met up with two of her linguistics professors while on a trip to Europe. They spent several days touring the Netherlands together.

These strong personal connections have drawn Albitz back to USC Dornsife in the years since graduation and they inspire her to continuously give back to the college. “I feel a strong sense of gratitude, commitment and allegiance to USC Dornsife,” she says. “And I hope to get more involved and to give back more in the years ahead.”

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