Chris Boone’s hardworking Canadian grandmother may not have been at Monday’s installation ceremony for the new dean of the USC Price School of Public Policy, but the late Mary Boone was there in spirit thanks to her grandson’s heartfelt remarks.
“My father was an only child, which meant his mother could sock away what little extra money she made as a seamstress,” Boone said from the podium inside the Town and Gown ballroom on the University Park Campus. “[He] remembered from his earliest days that his mother would talk about him going to college — not if, but when and where.”
His grandmother’s determination has so far led to two generations of educators in the Boone family, including the new USC Price dean who also holds the C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Dean’s Chair at the school. Boone made note of other key mentors in his life and career during the ceremony attended by USC President Carol Folt, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Andrew T. Guzman, and many of the leaders of USC’s 22 other schools and academic units.
“Achievements are never our own,” Boone said. “I am standing here because of the kindness, encouragement and sacrifices many, many people made for me.”
In her remarks, Folt described Boone as “an exceptional academic leader and thought leader — a leader for the future.”
Folt also lightheartedly shared with the crowd that Boone doesn’t like to be called Christopher because it has too many syllables. It’s also what his mother called him whenever he was in trouble.
“I have a hard time believing Chris was ever much of a troublemaker,” Folt said. “But if he were, it would have been because of a far-reaching and restless intellect and a deep curiosity about the world. It makes sense that he’s now taking the helm of USC Price — a renowned school with nearly a century’s legacy of developing disrupters, changemakers, innovators and creative thinkers of all kinds.”