University Of Southern California's DEN@Viterbi Congratulates The Class Of 2014

LOS ANGELES, May 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Southern California's (USC) online graduate engineering program, DEN@Viterbi, will confer 223 master's degrees to the Class of 2014. To date, the program has graduated more than 3,500 engineers since the program transitioned online in 2000.

This year's graduating class represents a diverse student body and a slew of milestones for the program:

• More than 78 percent of the graduating class were working professionals during the program, balancing the demands of school without missing a beat at work
• Includes servicemen and women from each branch of the military
• With 29 percent coming from minority heritage, this has been one of the program's most diverse graduating classes yet
• A strong representation of female engineers with 20 percent of the total class
• In addition, the graduating students represent 20 states spread across the United States

"DEN@Viterbi's class of 2014 is a diverse, talented group of engineers whose expertise will be critical in tackling the global challenges we face both today and tomorrow," said Kelly Goulis, DEN@Viterbi Associate Dean. "Our students have proven once again that given the right tools, resources and academic rigor, they can not only master an engineering field, but also do so while simultaneously working on their careers, caring for their families and communities, and traveling to the far corners of the world."

To match the demands today's engineers face, DEN@Viterbi continues to expand its programs while providing hands-on involvement from world-class faculty. Just this past February, two professors, Dr. Iraj Ershaghi in the Chemical Engineering Department and Geraldine Knatz in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, became National Academy of Engineering members, the highest professional distinction awarded to an engineer. In addition, DEN@Viterbi completed a multi-million dollar technology upgrade to its classrooms with plans for additional innovations coming later this year.

The DEN@Viterbi program, ranked by U.S. News and World Report in 2014 as the No. 1 Online Graduate Computer Information Technology program and the No. 4 overall Online Graduate Engineering Program in the country, congratulates the entire Class of 2014, and looks forward to welcoming the next class entering the prestigious online engineering program this fall.

About the Viterbi School & DEN@Viterbi
A groundbreaking professional school in one of the world's leading private research universities, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering was recently ranked as a top-10 graduate engineering program by U.S. News and World Report, and is consistently ranked between 10^th and 12^th in the world by the Academic Ranking of World Universities. As the oldest professional school on the USC campus, the Viterbi School celebrated its 100^th anniversary in 2005.

The USC Viterbi School of Engineering earned the No. 1 top honor in the 2013 U.S. News and World Report rankings, for both its Online Graduate Engineering Programs and its Online Computer Information Technology Programs, recognizing excellence in peer reputation, student engagement, faculty credentials and training, student services and technology, and admissions selectivity.

The Viterbi Distance Education Network (DEN@Viterbi), one of the first of its kind, was created in 1972 to address the continuing education needs of Southern California's aerospace industry. After four decades of growth and investment, Viterbi currently offers more than 45 online engineering graduate programs and professional courses from custom studio classrooms on the USC campus.

More information about DEN@Viterbi can be found online at viterbi.usc.edu/den.

SOURCE USC Viterbi School of Engineering