Los Angeles – September 30, 2026 -- USC has dedicated a new Korean Air Convergence Plaza at the center of its University Park Campus engineering corridor, formalizing a partnership tied to Korean Air Chairman and CEO Walter Cho, an alumnus of USC's MBA Class of 2006.
USC names outdoor collaboration hub after Korean Air at campus dedication event
USC President Beong-Soo Kim and Walter Cho, who also serves as Chairman of Hanjin Group, led Tuesday's ceremony alongside USC Trustees and guests. The plaza sits at the junction of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the USC Mark and Mary Stevens School for Computing and Artificial Intelligence, bordered by three academic buildings: the Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Human-Centered Computation Hall, the Ray R. Irani Hall for Molecular and Computational Biology, and the Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience.
Space will serve visitors during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games
The plaza is designed to host students, faculty, researchers and alumni for interdisciplinary interaction, and will also accommodate visitors to the University Park Campus during the upcoming LA28 Olympic Games. Kim said the space gives students and faculty from multiple disciplines a shared physical environment to converge.
Cho ties campus investment to Korean Air's five-decade presence in Los Angeles
Cho said Los Angeles has served as Korean Air's gateway to the Americas for more than five decades, framing the plaza as a continuation of the carrier's commitment to the region and to USC as an academic partner. Korean Air carried more than 25 million passengers in 2025, operates a fleet of 166 aircraft from its Incheon hub, and serves 116 cities across 39 countries as a founding SkyTeam member with a transpacific joint venture with Delta Air Lines.