Carol Folt, the twelfth president of the University of Southern California, has announced she will retire at the conclusion of the current academic year on July 1, 2025. Beginning next year, she will take on a full-time faculty position with the university.
Dr. Folt assumed her presidency in July 2019. Over the past five years, she has overseen expanded academic and student support programs, research initiatives, and infrastructure improvements in several different areas across the USC campus and community. Under her leadership, the university has invested heavily in STEM programming, including the addition of the new School of Advanced Computing and the USC Arcadia Hospital. She also helped guide the institution through its transition to the Big Ten athletic conference and several upgrades to athletic facilities.
Prior to her current role, Dr. Folt served as chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from July 2013 to January 2019. Her career in higher education began as a professor at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where she served as a faculty member in biological sciences. At Dartmouth, she also held various administrative positions including dean of faculty, provost, and interim president. As an academic, her research has focused on the effects of dietary mercury and arsenic on human and ecosystem health, salmonid fisheries management and restoration, and global climate change.
In a letter to the USC community, Dr. Folt said, “Serving as the twelfth president of the University of Southern California is one of the greatest privileges of my life. Working with so many of you to achieve the promise of our incredible Trojan Family brings me joy and inspiration each day. After more than 20 years of leadership at three great universities, however, I am excited to embrace the freedom that comes with a next big leap, and to pass the baton to the next president who will be able to build upon our accomplishments and create a new chapter for this extraordinary institution.”
Dr. Folt holds a bachelor’s degree in aquatic biology and a master’s degree in biology both from Santa Barbara City College. She earned a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California, Davis.