Arnold Schwarzenegger - Arnold Schwarzenegger Fronts California Academic Alliance

The former state governor will partly fund the University of Southern California's Institute for State and Global Policy and he is determined to be a force in the venture.

Announcing the news on Wednesday (02Aug12), the movie star said, "When you think back of everything I've done - body building, training people, writing about diet and food supplements and promoting movies and entertainment - I've always been interested in making sure other people can benefit from my experience.

"It's the same with this. It would be a shame to think what I learned from my governorship over seven years... will now be left behind and no one will benefit."

Schwarzenegger tells the Los Angeles Times, "This is something I'm very passionate about, and I'll be involved in bringing talent from around the world to Usc to do lectures and seminars. My strength is that I'm very well known internationally and can take that message to other universities overseas and in this country."

Schwarzenegger will chair the institute's Board of Advisors and will hold an appointment as the Governor Downey Professor of State and Global Policy at Usc. Irishman John Downey became California's first foreign-born governor and he also helped found Usc. Austrian-born Schwarzenegger became the second foreign-born governor of the state in 2003.

He is scheduled to give his first lecture in December (12).