Volume XCI, Number 2
trojan
University of Southern California
Wednesday, June 2, 1982
LASSO TWIRLING - Demonstrations of Western crafts will be given at the Natural History Museum's Craft Fair this weekend. Story is on page 8.
Cancer patients sought for testing of new drugs
Doctors at the USC Comprehensive Cancer Center are seeking a total of 30-50 cancer patients to participate in trials of two anticancer drugs, interferon and the new drug VP-16 (etoposide).
Steven Grunberg, M.D., assistant professor of medicine in the division of medical oncology at the USC School of Medicine and the USC Cancer Center, says that he and his colleagues are looking for 15-25 patients with advanced (recurrent, persistent or metastatic) bronchogenic lung cancer to participate in a 12-week study with pure, cloned interferon.
They are also seeking 15-25 patients with advanced squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck to participate in a six-week trial with VP-16.
“We are looking for patients with advanced cancer who have not responded to standard treatment, or for whom there is no standard treatment,” Dr. Grunberg says. “Patients who show a positive response to the investigational therapy may continue to receive these drugs after the initial trial period.”
To be eligible for either trial, patients must be ambulatory. For the interferon trial, patients will be hospitalized for 24 to 48 hours of observations at the time of the first treat-
Letters welcome
The Summer Trojan welcomes letters and commentaries for publication.
Material submitted must include the writer’s name, year in school (or postion held at the university), major, and a telephone number at which the writer may be reached during the day.
All letters and commentaries must be typed and doublespaced.
Submit letters and commentaries to STU 421.
Film student wins achievement award
By Teresa Pichay
Editor
A USC film student is the recepient of an award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for his entry in the Ninth Annual Student Film Awards competition.
Ken Kwapis won the Dramatic Achievement Award for his film, “For Heaven’s Sake,” an adaptation of Mozart’s opera, “The Impressario.” Kwapis is a Master of Fine Arts candidate in the Division of Cinema-Television.
“For Heaven’s Sake" was a project for a production workshop class. The film’s story is a whimsical tale of two nuns who compete with each other in a songfest. The Mozart score for the film was recorded by the USC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of a student conductor, Stephen Stein.
Nine crew members and eighty volunters, including the cast and USC Symphony members, contributed to the production of the film. Filming of the movie began in June 1981 and final production was finished last December.
Kwapis’s award is one of four awards given by the Academy to students. The other categories include: animation, documentary, and experimental. More than 220 entries were reviewed by educators, journalists, film critics, and Academy members for this year’s competition.
Award ceremonies will be held on Sunday, June 6th at the Academy in Beverly Hills. There is no charge for admission but tickets must be ordered. Those who want to attend the ceremonies, where they will screen each winning film, can call the Academy to order tickets.
Students, businesses cooperating
Management Internship Program
ment. VP-16 patients will not need hospitalization. Both drugs will be supplied free of charge.
Cloned interferon and VP-16 are now in Phase II clinical trials.
“Their side-effects have already been determined, so we can administer both drugs at full dosage,” Grunberg explains. He adds that the major side-effects of interferon are flu-like symptoms — chills, fever, aching muscles, tiredness, and low blood count. The side effects of VP-16 are relatively mild but may include nausea and low blood count.
Grunberg calls VP-16 a “very promising” drug.
“VP-16 has been found to have activity against lymphoma and oat-cell carcinoma of the lung, as well as against testicular cancer. We are very hopeful about its performance against advanced squamouscell cancer of the head and neck."
In both trials, most of the treatments can be given by the patient’s own oncologist (or another health professional) in the patient's local community.
“We hope this procedure will help patients who live far from downtown Los Angeles to participate,” Grunberg says.
Patients interest in participating in either trial should have their physician call Dr. Grunberg at (213) 226-4036.
The high cost of housing in Southern California was hampering the Aerospace Corporation’s efforts to recruit scientists and engineers.
A team of USC graduate students studied the housing needs of candidates who refused the company’s job offers.
In line with the students’ recommendations. Aerospace helped to form a community foundation that will aid its employees in securing affordable housing.
‘We offer something extraordinary in business — total objectivity. ’
Founders Savings and Loan Association, a black-owned enterprise, faced an industrywide crises following federal deregulation. A USC student team analyzed the risks of taking up credit card operations and other ventures. Arthur Meadows, the association’s senior vice president, says, “The students’ recommendations helped us decide to install automated tellers and go into second trust deed loans instead. We also followed their recommendation to avoid certain high-risk ventures.”
Since 1972, more than 150 companies have enlisted student teams from the USC Graduate School of Business Administration's nine-month Management Internship Program. Many renew their involvement with the MIP year after year. In return for a tax-deductable donation to the school, the companies benefit from the enterprise of a unique type of task force.
One of the companies is Kin-dler and Laucci, a conservative, long-established insurance brokerage house. Hugh E. Behny, vice-president of the firm, says: “We wanted to be more aggresive in recruiting young minds. We thought the MIP would be a good place to start. The students sometimes asked questions we didn’t want to hear, but their forthright approach forced us to
gain new perspectives on our situation.”
“We offer something extraordinary in business -- total objectivity,” says MIP director Roy Menzies. “Even an outside consultant may inadvertently color recommendations to convey what a company wants to hear. Our students don’t have to worry about getting a raise or winning another assignment.”
According to Menzies, the USC program was designed primarily as a learning experience for students and secondarily as a service to the business community.
But, he says, the MIP has evolved as an established link through which students and the business community can influence one another in mutually beneficial ways.
‘‘Our assessments show,” Menzies reports, “that 70 percent of the companies involved with the program have imple-
mented part or all of the students’ recommendations. Without doubt, we are having a strong impact on the enterprises that join us.”
The MIP is the only program of its kind using teams of four or five first-year graduate students supervised by second-year students who serve as team advisors.
“The group leaders serve as a level of middle management to ensure that the students’ energies are focused,” Menzies explains.
As they conduct each project, students seek out relevant souces of expertise from the faculty and staff of the entire university. The full resources of USC are thus made available to the company through the students.
MIP teams have conducted studies for enterprises ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations, apply-(Continued on page 2)
Sacramento public affairs center directors named
E. Kim Nelson and John J. Kirlin have been named co-directors of the Sacramento Public Affairs Center, a unit of the School of Public Administration.
Dr. Nelson and Dr. Kirlin, currently resident faculty at the center. will succeed Dr. Ross Clayton, who was recently appointed dean of the School of Public Administration. The appointments, effective in September, were recommended by faculty, staff and students of SPAC.
Nelson has long been a member of the National Academy of Public Administration. His research on the justice system is nationally renowned. He has served as dean of the School of Public Administration and has held other key policy posts at the university.
Accepting the appointment. Nelson said, “Here in Sacramento, we feel a great sense of opportunity to address the policy questions that face state government. I look forward to being a part of that critically important effort.”
Kirlin is the author of a recently published book, “Political Economy of Fiscal Limits.” He is recognized as one of the nation’s foremost experts on the changing characteristics of intergovernmental relations. He has served associate dean and interim dean of the School of Public Administration.
Kirlin said, “My research has focused on recent state policy processes. As co-director, I will work to make the resources of SPAC increasingly relevant and accessible to those involved in the policy process.”
The Sacramento Public Affairs Center offers graduate studies leading to master's and doctoral degrees in public administration.
It is one of three USC public affairs centers. The others are in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.