USD Magazine, Summer 1995

on around the campus, and he's made a concerted effort to reach out and give the alumni program the commitment it deserves," he says. Hughes sometimes went as far as to invite students to accom– pany him on his boat, with those sailing trips acting as a chance for the president and students to chat informally and develop friendships away from campus. "It allowed me to get a genuine reaction to how those stu– dents viewed the university," Hughes recalls. "Some of them developed very close relationships with the faculty, and I think they knew they wouldn't have had that experience someplace else." Hughes' son Tim, who participated in many of those sailing expeditions, and who graduated from USD in 1982, is certainly the student who knew Art Hughes better than any other. Although he learned much at USD, he says his father taught him the same sense of humility that Art Hughes himself is known for. "We had a lot of people visiting the house when I was in school," Tim Hughes recalls. "The people I liked were the peo– ple who were down-to-earth, who didn't have a sense of their own importance. Those were the people my father tended to get along with."

Since then, USD students have volunteered hundreds of thousands of hours in a wide variety of programs. Even Hughes was surprised at the scope of the program, which he says has far surpassed what he envisioned. "The important thing about volunteerism is that it is one of the social values that our students have to be made aware of," Hughes says. "There is a great sense of fulfillment in doing something for somebody else." Hughes also is proud of the tradition of what USD calls the "scholar-athlete." Unlike many other institutions, USD makes no special academic allowances for athletes, requiring that their grades meet the same high standards as the rest of the student body. Tom Iannacone, USD's director of athletics, says that the success of USD athletics is made all the more sweet by the academic achievements of its athletes, and credits Hughes for making it possible. " If we weren't working for a university that does things right, we'd have a harder time attracting athletes that do things right," he says. "We don't have to be afraid of success, because we succeed by attracting quality kids." It is the students, past and present, who offer perhaps the most heartfelt memories of Author Hughes. Without exception they remember a man who always had time for them, a man who they now know was constantly working behind the scenes, with his strongest motivation always being to better their lives as students. "Dr. Hughes is one the most forward-thinking people I've

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1992 • USD completes $47.5 million fund-raising campaign, exceeding goal by $5.5 million. • Loma Hall opens. • The men's soccer team finishes as the NCAA national championship runner-up. During the same academic year, women's basketball wins the wee tournament and advances to the NCAA tournament for the first time.

committed: Ernest W. Hahn Chair of Real Estate Fi,Jance.

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