Case Study: University of Southern California scales employee learning to support critical research and onboarding with Cornerstone OnDemand

Developing Competencies & Supporting Critical Research

The University of Southern California (USC) is a private, research-intensive university in Los Angeles serving about 40,000 students with 23,653 employees and a $3.4 billion annual budget. Facing rising competition for research funding, tuition pressures, and the need to elevate institutional performance, USC sought to strengthen its people and infrastructure to support research, improve onboarding, and develop staff competencies across the university.

In 2013 USC launched Cornerstone OnDemand’s Cornerstone Learning as “Trojan Learn,” a branded, secure LMS that gives more than 13,000 staff access to 24 curriculums and 13 custom courses, blending online and instructor-led training. The platform automated onboarding, delivered a contracts-and-grants curriculum for research administrators, scaled competency-building programs, and enabled administrators to reach thousands of employees—supporting critical research, improving new-hire experiences, and expanding training impact without a large increase in administrative effort.

University of Southern California

Mary Campbell

Assistant Vice President, Talent & Organizational Effectiveness