Late USC Dornsife graduate and faculty member leaves legacy of extended family

The late Russell Caldwell, professor of history at USC Dornsife, was a resident of South Los Angeles during the Watts Riots. The civil unrest inspired him to start a scholarship fund as a small step to address the area’s problems. He invited his colleagues “to join in this positive kind of demonstration” by giving $5 a month toward scholarships for worthy students living in the areas surrounding the university.

Since then, the Dr. Russell L. Caldwell Neighborhood Scholarship Program, one of the longest-running community-designated scholarship programs at USC, has supported more than 400 minority students from high schools around USC. It also has raised more than $1 million from current and retired faculty and staff with help from USC’s financial aid office.

The program, which is run by the USC Retired Faculty Association, gives partial, merit-based scholarships to minority students from high schools near the university. In recent years, it has provided supplemental support for books and course materials for several graduates of USC’s highly successful Neighborhood Academic Initiative, a pre-college enrichment program founded in 1989 for students in sixth through 12th grades near its campuses. The two programs share the goal of helping first-generation, underrepresented minority students become successful college graduates.

In good company

Ask Victor Webb why he volunteers his time to mentor and support USC students, and the retired adjunct professor has a simple, personal answer.

“These kids are me,” he said, remembering his own journey out of the segregated neighborhoods of 1940s Chicago to become the first in his family to go to college. “We have to do what we can to get these kids opportunities that can change their lives.”

Webb, who co-chairs the program with Associate Professor Emerita Kaaren Hoffman, serves as emcee at biannual lunches that bring together scholarship recipients — all first-generation college students — with the retired faculty and staff who support them.

William Russell Moon, whose great-grandfather is donor Russell Caldwell, is a sophomore studying at USC.

At the most recent lunch in September, faculty members greeted the students warmly, asking them questions about their successes and challenges.

Individual support

Mousael Louis, a sophomore majoring in psychology who graduated from Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, told the group how she switched gears from studying mechanical engineering to nonprofit organization and philanthropy.

“Engineering didn’t align with my interests that well,” she said. “I wanted to do more work with people and particularly focus on mental health issues.”

Louis’ switch in interests sparked a personal connection for Hoffman, whose own career in psychology drew her to volunteer service at Mental Health America of Los Angeles. Hoffman invited Louis to accompany her to an upcoming board meeting of the nonprofit, which advocates for the mentally ill and provides them with vital services.

Hoffman enjoys looking for ways to give students practical experience. “We love to help them advance their careers and explore what interests them, when we can,” she said.

Louis accepted the invitation, ready to network and learn firsthand about their outreach programs as well as the challenges of a running a nonprofit. The retired faculty members are encouraging, she said. “They check up on me and make sure I am adjusting well to USC.”

That deepening relationship between retired faculty and staff and the students they support was part of the vision of Caldwell. The late alumnus, who earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in history from USC Dornsife in 1933 and 1948, respectively, challenged his colleagues to foster the USC-to-neighborhood relationship by providing scholarships for local students.

Impact through the generations

Though Caldwell passed away in 1979, his legacy has lived on through the faculty members who renamed the scholarship in his honor, and through his family members who regularly attend the lunches to interact with the students. Granddaughter Caron Caldwell attended the lunch with her mother, Terri Caldwell, and her son, William Russell Moon, now a sophomore majoring in history at USC Dornsife.

“I frequently say my family bleeds cardinal and gold,” Moon said. “That started with my great grandfather.”

Moon senses his great grandfather’s influence at home and on campus and couldn’t be happier to be following in his footsteps. He has gone to a few of the program’s lunches to see his great grandfather’s legacy in action.

“It’s a truly inspiring and humbling experience to hear their stories,” he said.