Looking for that last-minute holiday gift?

'Tis the season for giving and TJA has some amazing gift ideas for that special Trojan!  The USC gnome is a great addition to your garden; a baby onesie is a great way to showcase your future Trojan; and one can never have too many Trojan Sweetheart Tees!  More gift ideas can be found here.


Happy holidays from TJA and Fight On!

USC Hospital Guild Holiday Speaker Series

USC University Hospital Guild

of the Keck School of Medicine of USC

Cordially invites you, your family, co-workers and friends to our

Holiday Speaker Series and Luncheon featuring:

DR. MARK S. HUMAYUN

Professor of Ophthalmology and Biomedical Engineering & Cell Neurobiology

Associate Director of Research of Ophthalmology

"Seeing Better"

Tuesday, December 14th 2010

Doheny Eye Institute

Third Floor Auditorium

Health Sciences Campus

Coffee:                  10:30 am

Speaker:                11:00 am

Dickens Carolers:  11:45 am

Lunch:                   12:00 pm

Parking is available in the USC University Parking Structure for $8.00 or valet parking is available in front of the Hospital for $10.00.

The Speaker Series is complimentary.  If you would like to join us for a delicious lunch, please send $30.00 payable to the USC University Hospital Guild in the enclosed envelope or call Carol Corral at (323) 254-0600.

The dealine for reservations is Thursday, December 9th.

Time for Holiday Cheer

The countdown is on for the Annual TJA Holiday Party on Sunday. If you haven't RSVP'd ... what are you waiting for? And for those of you who still have room on your social calendar, here's another not-to-be-missed event. 

YOUNG ALUMNI HOLIDAY PARTY

Date:	Dec 16, 2010
Time:	8:00PM - 11:00PM PT
Location:	Traditions 3607 Trousdale Pkwy, Basement Los Angeles, CA 90089

Description:

Join USC Young Alumni* at the new Traditions (Traddies) bar in the brand new Ronald Tutor Campus Center on the University Park Campus. 

Admission includes two drink tickets and hosted appetizers (while food lasts). Entertainment features DJ Gumsoul spinning on the Tommy’s Place mainstage. 

Parking is available for $8 in any USC parking structure. 

Register online at

http://alumni.usc.edu/holiday

$20 Early Bird registration ( by 12.13.10)

$25 Regular Admission & Walk-ups

*Young Alumni are USC Alumni who earned their undergraduate degrees between ’01 – ’10

Mini-Mixer #3- Southbay Edition

First of all, I hope all of you had a Happy Thanksgiving!  It's so crazy that we're at the end of November already!  Seriously, where does the time go?

The increasingly cool weather was no deterrent for the six of us brave ladies: myself (President), Ashley (President-Elect and new Southbay resident), Maggie (VP Benefit), Katie (Patrons), Nancy and Jackie!  The ladies that know Hermosa Beach chose the delightful and delicious yogurt haven known as Froyo Life. 

Nancy making her final choices while the rest of the ladies dig in!

Delicious yogurt!  We pretty much inhaled our treats.

We had a great time in wonderful Hermosa complete with restaurants, bars, street performers and all right next to the beach!  We talked a lot about our respective works, as we had little to no idea what all of us did for a living.  It was very informative and interesting to see how diverse our respective jobs are!  We also chatted about the holidays and what we were all planning for Thanksgiving.  After about an hour and a half, our busy lives called to us once more and we had to leave- it was a great time to get to know each other, though!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 What are you thankful for this year?

November Meeting

In case you couldn't be there, here's the top five things you missed at the November TJA meeting ...

5. The delicious pasta dinner from Viztango.

4. The inaugural meetings of the spring benefit subcommittees. Planning is off to a great start, stay tuned for info!

3. Final details about the annual TJA holiday party, coming up Sunday, December 5. Members watch your email for an evite.

2. Financial planning and insurance advice from TJA Board Member Jodie Boytos.

1. Icebreaker excitement ... can you name 3 things you have in common with 2 other TJA members?

Finally ... here's the answer to the November trivia question: Can you name 2 movies filmed on the USC campus? If you've got another film to add, speak up here!

Mini-Mixer of Downtown

Hi all!

Janine Coleman here again, to bring you the scoop of our second and successful Mini-Mixer, this time located in downtown Los Angeles.  Our downtown gang was an eclectic bunch, but we all agreed that there was one fabulous place that we had to meet (despite it being in a semi-sketchy area):

Urth Caffe

Dawn (Scholarship Chair), Michelle (Membership Chair), as well as members Meredith, Charlotte and Logielyn joined me at this fabulous cafe.  What makes it fabulous?  Why the mere fact that they hand out free samples of pumpkin pie goodness.  I may or may not admit that I grabbed two.  Or three.  

We ladies got right down to the business of ordering.  Many of us chose the hot drink route, which included Moroccan Tea and Caffe Latte.

I, for some reason, got a lot of accoutrements with my tea.

Small, medium and large caffes.

The coffees had a cute turkey design in their foam, too!  Also, Meredith went for the OJ from their Fresh Juice Bar and Charlotte opted for a fantastic-looking milkshake.

Also, because it was so close to Halloween, one of our members brought her props to the Mixer!  It was awesome!

Logielyn as one of The Runaways.

Us girls chatted about things we like to do outside of work, lots about music and boys, and what we were all going to do for Halloween.  It was a great way to spend an hour and a half with some lovely TJA ladies!

Managing Career Change Mixer!

Nov 17 Mixer: MANAGING CAREER CHANGE (EXTRA FOCUS FOR ALUMNI FROM CLASS OF 1980 THROUGH 2000) USC Alumni Club of San Fernando Valley

Join us Nov 17 6-8pm for social mixer and panel discussion on managing your career 10 to 20 years after graduation presented by experts from USC and industry.
· 6-7pm Networking
· 7-8pm Speaker Presentations, Panel Discussion, Q&A

Guest Speakers include:

Scott Turner: Associate Director USC Marshall MBA Career Services

Prior to USC Marshall, Scott spent 9+ years at the Mattel Corporation in El Segundo, CA where he held various positions in international finance, manufacturing as well as plant operations for the Barbie and Hot Wheels product lines. 

For the past 5 years, Scott has worked to successfully define, develop, launch and deliver a career services function for our USC Marshall Alumni. Scott has worked extensively with Marshall alumni (both graduate and undergraduate) as an executive coach, mentor and career transition specialist. He has helped many hundreds of alumni successfully transition careers and secure employment. In addition, he reinvigorated the Alumni Jobs Database and has leveraged social media in his outreach to our Alumni.

Jen O'Connor : Career Counselor at USC's Career Planning and Placement Center

Since 2005, Jen has managed all of the alumni career events for the department while supporting the career needs of both students and alumni.

For More Speakers and Event Updates: go to www.SFValleyTrojans.com

Food and Drinks:

Event Admission will include 1 FREE wine or other alcoholic beverage or 1 FREE endless Tea or Soft Drink. Appetizers will be served throughout the event as well as additional drinks at Happy Hour Prices.

Admission Fee:

$25* RSVP by 6pm Monday Nov15 (Pay Online with VISA)

$35* within 48Hrs of Event

* A portion of the Event’s Admission Fees will be donated to the Club’s Scholarship Fund.

For every $1,000 raised by our Club the University will donate $2,000 to our scholarship fund; totaling $3,000 for the students.

Parking is FREE: a $3 fee may be charged initially but will be refunded inside the event

Where:

Hamburger Hamlet. 4419 Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403

(818) 784-1183

Coming this weekend ...

Get in on the USC athletics action this weekend with game watch events, USC Hoops home openers and free admission to USC aquatics.

Game Watching with the USC Alumni Club of Downtown LA : USC at Arizona

Sat, Nov 13, 4-8 pm (5 pm Kickoff)

FREE! (or Purchase VIP tickets)

ESPN Zone, 19th Hole Bar (2nd floor)

Join the USC Alumni Club of Downtown LA for a Game Watching Party at its official headquarters.

Private viewing will be in the Championship Lounge overlooking the screening room.

                        

• Hosted appetizers for the first hour

• 15% off all food purchases

• 10% of bar sales donated to scholarship fund

Game Watching with the USC Alumni Club of the San Gabriel Valley : USC at Arizona

RSVP:  www.uscclubsgv.org/Arizona Attendees who say “Fight On!” to the waiter will receive a 5% discount off their meal from the dinner menu and Paco’s will donate an additional 5% back to the SGV Alumni Club’s scholarship fund! Trojan Special - $30 Margarita Tasting (5 premium tequila margaritas in 12 oz glasses paired with 5 appetizers) Hosted by: Paco’s Mexican Restaurant 200 East Foothill Blvd. Arcadia, Ca 91006 www.pacosmexicanrestaurant.com

Click Here For Tickets To Men's Basketball

Click Here For Tickets To Women's Basketball

Click Here For Tickets To Women's Volleyball

Homecoming Happenings

On October 30, 2010, TJA ladies once again sold product at Homecoming to raise money for TJA scholarships. It was fun to see many of our current and past members stop by the booth to say hello and check out our wares.

 

Each year, we try to identify a few fun new products to sell that will catch people's attention and help with our sales. Three years ago, we designed unique "Trojan Sweetheart" shirts, and last year we debuted our USC themed "Baby on Board!" maternity shirts. This year, we added a few more new products to the mix to spice things up.

The first is a super-cute babie onesie featuring a baby buggie adorned with USC and a baby flashing the victory sign. Below the image it says "This is how I roll." We got so many fun responses to that onesie, and they sold incredibly well! We only have a few left and are reordering more.

The second is an adorable doggie bandana that says "Trojan Pup" inside of a dog bone. We also sold out of those!

Lastly is a cute USC garden gnome. These were also incredibly popular, and are very cute items. Many of our members picked them up to give as gifts or to adorn their own gardens.

If you are interested in these or any of our other products, please contact Angie Law at specialprojects@usctja.com. They make excellent holiday, birthday, hostess or "just because" gifts for your Trojan friends and family. And all of the profits go to support Trojan Junior Auxiliary scholarships.

Thanks for your support, and we hope to see you next year at Homecoming! 

See You Tonight!

Have you RSVP'd for tonight's meeting?

Here are the details:

6:30 - 7:00 PM - Dinner/Social Time

7:00 - 8:30 PM - General Meeting
8:30 - 9:00 PM - TJA Board Meeting 

During the General Meeting TJA Board Member Jodie Boytos will present a brief talk sharing tips and answering questions on what you really need to know about insurance. 

** Can you name 2 movies filmed on the USC campus? Come prepared to answer this month's trivia question and you could win a prize!

Tonight's meeting is in at the Alumni Salon, located in the Campus Center, USC University Park Campus. 

See you there!

The First of our Mini-Mixers

Hi gang!  Recently, five young ladies of TJA decided that it was a good day to get some yogurt, sit and chat for about an hour or so.  Unfortunately, due to the weather being rainy and cold, the fantastic Yogurtland was out.  Quick thinker Kendra (our TJA editor), mentioned that there was another equally delicious yogurt place, called Toppers Yogurt.  Off we went!

 

Jodie and Kendra ponder the many choices.

 Samples must be tried!  New member Janel tries some chocolate mint.

Jodie and Janine pose with their yogurts.  Jodie's is a healthy strawberries and vanilla yogurt (with sprinkles), while Janine decided on the super chocolate with m&ms.

 New members Janel and Rebecca pose with their yogurts- strawberries was a popular topping.

We spent about an hour and a half talking about jobs, school and future socials options, including some murmurs regarding a weekend trip to Vegas.  But you didn't hear it from me! ;)  It was good to have some conversation with a tiny sampling of our TJA group-  and we can't wait to do it again!

Sufficiently full of yogurt (the smalls were HUGE!), we pose for a final picture.

To our Trojan Junior Auxiliary Patrons and Alumnae:

With the Homecoming game quickly approaching I would like to take a moment to let you know that once again Trojan Junior Auxiliary will be at homecoming selling products to benefit TJA Scholarships.  This year we are proud to unveil two new product offerings with one-of-a-kind designs.  Stop by our booth in the Gold Marketplace to see what kind of goodies we have in store for Trojan pets and babies!

You can also stay up to date on what is happening with TJA by visiting our Facebook Page, Blog and subscribing to our Twitter feed.

We hope to see you Saturday, but if you cannot make it to our booth, our products are also available on the ACC website.  Thank you for your support of TJA, and please feel free to contact us with any questions or feedback.

Fight On! and beat the Ducks!

Katie Kramer ’06

Patrons Chair

patrons@usctja.com

Janine Worrell Coleman '03

TJA President

president@usctja.com

Fall Social Extravaganza!

Hi gang!  I'm Janine Coleman, your current President, to review a fantastic fall social put together by our social chair, Jaymie!

As I'm sure many of you know by now, it's a Pumpkin Carving!  Several TJA members devoted a few hours on October 24th to visit the beautiful Roxbury Park and decorate some pumpkins.  Myself included, there was Michelle (our Membership Chair), Dawn (our Scholarship Chair), Jodie (our Treasurer), Kendra (our Editor), and then new members Janel and Logielyn!!!  With snacks provided by Jaymie, we set off to work:

 Dawn brought her signature pumpking carving apron!

 Michelle taking time out of carving to flash us the "Fight On" sign.

 

 Janel was rather speedy in her carving.  Her owl was almost done!

I chose a medium-difficulty design.  Note my delicate hacking at my pumpkin.

The proud carvers with their pumpkins. 

And now for your viewing pleasure, some pumpkin action in detail:

the traditionalists:

I love how freaked out her pumpkin looks!

things with wings:

the personal pumpkin:

haunted house finery:

Us girls had a wonderful time continuing in the tradition of TJA's Annual Pumpkin Carving.  Now granted, it was only our second time, but I can easily see it as a continuing institution for our group.  Happy Halloween all!

USC Welcomes President Obama

President Obama will be speaking on the USC University Park campus TODAY! His appearance is one of a series of "Moving America Forward" events, held across the nation to encourage voters to support Democratic candidates in next month's elections. Academy award winning actor Jamie Foxx and Latin/Hip hop band Ozomatli are also expected to appear.

Check out the live stream from Annenberg TV News.

Want to know more? Here's LA Times coverage.

October Meeting Recap

Monday October 11 was the first official TJA meeting of the year and if the gathering was any indication, it's going to be a great year! 

The group welcomed several new members along with a full panel of guest speakers. Danielle Harvey, Director of Special Interest Programs for the USC Alumni Association spoke about this prestigious Association, where TJA fits in and other opportunities for involvement; Linda Ball, Chairman of the USC Alumnae Coordinating Council  shared her inspiring experience as an active alumni.  Finally, Wendy King, cousin of new member Janel King, is an expert "resume doctor" and provided how-to tips for building a better resume. 

Did you know this year is TJA's 75th anniversary? That's right, TJA is one of the oldest USC alumni groups, formed in 1936! This year's benefit theme will honor that milestone. Stay tuned for details!

Finally, thanks to Jodie Boytos (Treasurer) for providing dinner and Janine Worrell Coleman (President) for the fabulously festive Halloween decorations!

Hail to the chief!

The Trojan Family officially installed its 11th President , C.L. Max Nikias, last friday and TJA members were there to witness the historic occasion. Alumni, students, faculty, community leaders including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, USC medical professionals and others marked the occasion, in a ceremony lead by Edward P. Roski Jr., chairman of the USC Board of Trustees.

Here's what the Daily Trojan had to say about the Inauguration.

Watch Nikias' speech on YouTube.

Join Us!

There's a lot going on for the Trojan Family this weekend. Look for TJA members at these events.

TJA October Meeting

It's hard to believe but the first meeting of the year is less than a week away. Here's a sneak preview of the guest speakers:

Danielle Harvey, USC Alumni Association

Linda Ball, ACC

Wendy King, "resume doctor"

RSVP today!

All ready attending? Come with the answer to this question and you could win some awesome USC swag!

WHAT IS GEORGE C. TIREBITER'S GPA? (Hint: You'll find the answer on the George C. Tirebiter statue plaque located on Trousdale - University Park Campus.)

Tailgate!

Are you planning on cheering on the Trojans at the Coliseum this weekend? The USC alumni clubs of Los Angeles are hosting the first home-game tailgate of the season ...

Attention Bibliophiles ...

Did you hear the news? The Los Angeles Times announced yesterday that starting next year the LA Times Festival of Books will move from UCLA to the USC campus! Launched in 1996, the Festival of Books is a popular weekend long festival that celebrates and promotes reading and literacy with special events and author appearances.

For more info on the Festival of Books you can also check out the Facebook Fan Page  and the official Twitter stream.

Mixer Madness

Monday's TJA Mixer was a smashing success! It was wonderful chance for members new and old to catch up and the most exciting part was meeting all the new faces. Below are some photos from the evening.

It's going to be an exciting year for TJA and if you weren't able to make it to the mixer and would still like to be a part of TJA, join us at our first meeting October 11. To RSVP please email Michelle at membership@usctja.com.

See you there!

Join Us for Monday's Mixer and Win a Prize!

The countdown is on for Monday's Fall Mixer ... RSVP today to membership@usctja.com. 

All ready attending? Come with the answer to this question and you could win some awesome USC swag!

WHAT IS GEORGE C. TIREBITER'S GPA? (Hint: You'll find the answer on the George C. Tirebiter statue plaque located on Trousdale - University Park Campus.)

Raise a glass to USC!

The USC Alumni Association has officially launched it's new wine program. Here are the details...