Steven Browning Sample (November 29, 1940 – March 29, 2016) was the 10th president of the University of Southern California (USC).

[3] Sample was born on November 29, 1940[3][4] and grew up in the Belden Hill neighborhood of Wilton, Connecticut, and received a scholarship to attend the University of Illinois to study engineering.

Sample held B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was initiated as a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

[3] While president, he gained fame for upgrading the long-languishing sports program,[3] and for guiding the university into being a major research institution.

[3][5] Regarding the establishment of a scholarship fund in his honor, Sample is quoted in a statement, included in an article in the June 2, 2004, edition of The Buffalo News by Stephen Watson, stating, "I am proud of the fact that, through this endowed scholarship, my name will be permanently linked with the University of Buffalo, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the honors program.

[3] During his term, the university also conducted the second most successful fundraising campaign in the history of higher education, raising nearly $3 billion.

[1] Sample is the author of numerous journal articles and published papers in science and engineering and in higher education.

[11] More specifically, it details his style of leadership in the context of USC's rise as an institution in his decade as president.