Trustee Wallis Annenberg
Nov. 29, 2007  
Unedited Remarks

Thank you, President Sample.  This is a special day for all the students, faculty, and friends of the Annenberg School.

The work of this school is very dear to me.  I was raised on a belief in communication -- not just as an informational tool, but as a liberating force, an engine of democracy, commerce, and empowerment across the world.

But a mere ten, fifteen years ago, none of us could have imagined what the internet and globalization would do to reshape communication – to make our world smaller and smarter, to bring new freedoms and new aspirations to the most remote places on our globe.

The notion that a struggling mother in a small village in Africa can start an on-line business, to better feed and clothe her children;

The idea that young dissidents living under dictatorship can chronicle their plight on the internet, for millions to read and to act upon;

The fact that world leaders now wheel and deal on international CNN as much as in their own state rooms. . .

These changes show us that communication is anything but a static medium.  Its role, its methods, its meaning are constantly transforming themselves.   

My hope has always been that this school would never remain static either – that it would engage itself deeply in the issues of the day, unafraid to expand and redefine its scope.

That is why I am so delighted to welcome Dean Ernie Wilson, who will also hold the chair in Communication that bears my father’s name.

Dean Wilson will stay true to the premise on which this school was founded: the power of communication to save and enrich lives.

But he will carry its work into an exciting new era, one for which he is singularly qualified.

A scholar of China-Africa relations and global changes in technology, Dean Wilson’s work embodies a world of interconnectedness.

An acclaimed author of books on the internet’s political impact around the world, Dean Wilson has made a career spotting trends as they appear on the horizon.

A ranking senior member of the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in two administrations now, Dean Wilson is a true public servant, someone with an abiding sense of community and our obligations to it.  

On behalf of myself and my fellow trustees of the Annenberg Foundation – Lee Annenberg, Lauren Bon, and Greg and Charles Weingarten – I am so proud to have him lead this school forward. 

I ask you to join me in welcoming Dean Wilson to the USC family, and to the world of changes and challenges that awaits us all.  Thank you.