LOS ANGELES : USC Provost Pings Quits to Head Research Group

USC’s second-in-command, Provost Cornelius J. Pings, is leaving the Los Angeles school to become president of the Assn. of American Universities, an organization of the 58 most prestigious research-oriented campuses in the United States and Canada.

USC’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs since 1991, Pings will begin his new duties in February in Washington. A chemical engineer, he chaired an AAU committee on reform of the controversial billings to the federal government of indirect research costs, a matter that gained national attention after spending scandals at Stanford University and elsewhere. At USC, officials credit Pings with helping the school raise its academic quality, although he reportedly was passed over in the 1990 selection for a new president of USC.

Forrest Shumway, chairman of the USC Board of Trustees, praised Pings and said that his AAU appointment “will be good for the country and it will be good for all research universities, including USC.”