USC Annenberg News

Congratulations to the Class of 2012!

Fri, 11 May 2012 21:04:36 GMT

By Gretchen Parker and Jeremy Rosenberg

As part of the University of Southern California's 129th Commencement Ceremonies, USC Annenberg celebrated the conferral of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees to 872 students on May 11. (View photos here.)

Dean Ernest J. Wilson III reminded graduates of how important their roles in the new, connected world of communication will be.

"All of you – using your training and education as a base – are prepared not to be just bystanders in the transition to a new digital economy, where we can shine light into the dark corners and where we can communicate more effectively with our neighbors here and around the world. We don’t want you to be observing from the sidelines. We want you to lead these changes."

School of Communication

At the School of Communication ceremony, former California First Lady, author and journalist Maria Shriver (pictured with Dean Wilson) delivered a moving speech from the perspective of a professional communicator – and a mom. Her daughter, Katherine Schwarzenegger (B.A. Communication '12) was in the audience of more than 500 graduates.

“I’m pausing to be in awe of this moment, that I’m standing at my first child’s graduation from college,” she said to her daughter, seated in a crowd of robes and mortar boards. Her voice choked, but she continued: “Katherine, I’m in awe of you – where are you? I’m in awe of the woman you are, your grace and courage and strength. I’m so proud of all of you, and what you’ve done to get here.”

She won laughs as she recalled her own graduation from Georgetown University, when her friends were drinking and celebrating (with champagne under their robes) – but she was worried. It took her until October to find a job in TV news after graduating in May.

She gave graduates straightforward advice they might not have heard from professors, parents and friends. At a time when everyone they know is asking them, “What’s next? Do you have a job? Where will you live?” graduates should pause, consider what they want to do with their lives and make deliberate choices, Shriver said.

The “What are you going to do next?” question dogs us our entire lives, she said.

“Even today at my age, people come up to me all the time asking, ‘Maria, What are you doing? What’s your job? Are you going back into television? What are you doing?’ It’s like what we’re doing at this precise moment doesn’t even exist. Everyone is focused on the next thing,” Shriver said.

The pressure won’t stop with landing the first job, so try not to get caught up in everyone’s expectations and find what you want to do most, she said.

“Today, I have one small wish for you. Before you go out and press that fast-forward button, I’m hoping – I’m praying – that you’ll have the courage to first press the pause button.”

By pausing, graduates will have a chance to reflect and move into their careers with purpose, Shriver said. USC Annenberg graduates have the opportunity to affect communication positively, and they should take advantage of it.

“You have the power, each and every one of you, to change the way we as a nation speak to one another – the way we write, the way we use our words. I truly believe you can change our national discourse for the better. You have the chance to change the way we talk to one other, what we read in newspapers and on the web and in magazines. You can help us change the channel. I hope each and every one of you dare to bring change to our community by changing the way we communicate.”

Rather than using “criticism and fault-finding,” graduates should work to change communication for the better. “Change it from nay-saying and name-calling to acceptance and appreciation. Change it from screaming to speaking… from dissembling and dishonesty to openness and explanation.”

“Show us the way, Annenberg graduates. Take us out to what I’ve been calling, ‘the open field.’ Go beyond, to what can only be imagined. I know you can do it, because a communications degree means nothing today unless you take it beyond where we are and into the unknown. And in order to do that, you’re going to have to learn how to listen and how to pause.”

Even during their work lives, which will be hectic, it will be important to take a breath and reflect on communicating inwardly as well as outwardly, Shriver said.

“Take the time to find out what’s important to you. Find out what you love, what’s real and true to you, so that it can infuse and inform your work and make it your own,” she said.

She was interrupted with applause when she cautioned grads to verify information before disseminating it.

“It’s up to you to decide if you want to pass on garbage, or if you want to check the facts,” Shriver said. “Pause before you hit the send button and forward a picture that could ruin somebody’s life. Pause before you write something nasty on somebody’s wall because you think it’s funny. Believe me, it isn’t.”

Shriver also won loud, supportive applause with this line: “Pause before forwarding the untrue and inflammatory tidbit that makes it so difficult for would-be public servants to serve, and for their families to exist in the public arena.”

Communication has so much power to do good, Shriver said. And with that power comes responsibility.

“So remember to pause and reflect – before you sign on with someone or some organization whose work you do not admire and don’t respect and you can’t stand up for. Who you work for is as important as what you do,” she said.

She urged graduates also to be thankful for the journey that brought them here – and to thank the people who made it possible. And she encouraged them to do that with pen and paper (and mentioned she’s never hired anyone who didn’t send a hand-written thank-you note after an interview).

The audience also appreciated this advice: “While you’re pausing, I hope you’ll do something refreshingly different and talk to your mother, your father or someone you care deeply about. Not text them – but actually talk to them with your mouth.”

Finally, Shriver left the group with the inspirational message to be courageous as they make their way.

“Wherever you go in live, however fast you’re going, remember this: When you’re in doubt, pause. Take a moment look at all of your options, check your intention, have a conversation with your heart. And then always take the high road.

“Fight to make a difference in this world. Fight for good. Fight for fairness. Fight on.”

School of Journalism

At the School of Journalism ceremony, ABC News anchor Christiane Amanpour, who also delivered the address for the USC main commencement ceremony, told the crowd of more than 300 journalism and public relations graduates: “I feel very at home here with all of you journalists.”

She praised graduates ’ enthusiasm and said they were right to be “boisterous and curious and eager to set off on adventure.”

Citing her own experiences in Bosnia, Rwanda and elsewhere, Amanpour beseeched the audience to never confuse objectivity with neutrality, or hard-sought fact with the chatter of under-informed opinion.

She urged humility and stressed responsibility among all of the graduates – public relations and journalism alike – as they rise to positions of power.

Amanpour also made sure the crowd knew that her profession has a bright future. “There is a great, great need for wonderful journalists who have been trained at a great school. I am massively hopeful. There are jobs – some of them may be less traditional than before,” she said, adding: “I want you to go out there with a great sense of optimism and can-do.”

The importance of journalism as a career can’t be overstated, she said. “You actually cannot have a robust and healthy democracy without a healthy and robust journalism profession.”

Amanpour rallied the students by passing along lessons and observations gained during her highly acclaimed career.

“I learned,” Amanpour said, “that this is the most noble profession known to humankind.”

Students live tweet Milken Institute Global Conference

Mon, 07 May 2012 20:11:58 GMT

By Jeremy Rosenberg

Six M.A. in Strategic Public Relations students played key roles in summarizing, analyzing and distributing comprehensive real-time social media content during the 2012 Milken Institute Global Conference.

The students – variously dubbed "Annenberg Ambassadors" and the "Annenberg Tweetforce" – sent out thousands of 140-characters-or-less dispatches on behalf of the Global Conference. The annual event, held this year April 30-May 2, took place at the Beverly Hilton hotel and was organized by the Milken Institute, a Santa Monica-based think tank. View photos here.

"The Annenberg students were incredible performers at the Milken Institute Global Conference," said Conrad Kiechel, the Milken Institute's director of communications. "Their hard work, engagement and creativity enabled us to tweet from all 130 panels during the three days."

The Global Conference brought together hundreds of world-renowned panelists and moderators from fields such as business, finance, energy, education, health, technology, public policy and philanthropy along with 3,000 or so audience members.

"I am incredibly amazed at the level of discussions I was part of and extremely honored to have been part of this experience," said Stephanie Lavayen, a Strategic Public Relations master's candidate scheduled to receive her degree this week.

Lavayen tweeted sessions regarding emerging global markets and also the future of the U.S. economy. She said she found tweeting the remarks of former President Bill Clinton to be particularly memorable. "The Global Conference not only elevated my awareness and understanding of the many complex issues facing our nation and the world," Lavayen said, "but left me with the desire to continue growing my knowledge about world issues and contemplating solutions."

Added Lavayen: "It was one of the most memorable experiences I had during my time at USC and I know I will remember it the rest of my life."

The opportunity for Lavayen and fellow Trojans Niku Ward, Jacques Dubois, Lauren Gelbach, Kendall Klinger and Brenna Clairr O'Tierney to participate in the Global Conference stemmed from a lunchtime conversation held in early March between Kiechel and Jerry Swerling, a USC Annenberg professor and director of the school's Public Relations Studies program.

Two other USC Annenberg students, Trevor Steele and Cara Lasala, were also involved in live-tweeting the conference. Steele was already involved with the Milken Institute and Lasala with the Prostate Cancer Foundation, a related organization located in the same building.

"I mentioned that, though we post videos of every panel at the Global Conference, I wanted to find ways to further unlock the incredible content," Kiechel said.

"The thought that immediately crossed my mind," Swerling said, "was, we should be able to solve that problem." So, a partnership was sealed and just seven weeks later, after divvying up sessions based on their respective areas of interest and experience, the Annenberg students were sitting and working in the same room as an abundance of CEOs, cabinet members, investors and other national and international movers-and-shakers. [A complete speakers list is here.]

"They were able to hear from some of the best minds in the world about the latest thinking in those areas of interest," Swerling said of the students. "On top of that, their tweeting put them squarely at the center of one of the hottest phenomenon in communication: the sharing of high-value information."

Public relations professor Matthew Le Veque joined the students and Swerling at the Global Conference. Le Veque at times sat next to the students at panels while he monitored their Twitter streams via his iPad.

"Self-publishing of real time content via social media platforms such as Twitter are part of the skill set used by modern public relations professionals," Le Veque said. "For students to move from the classroom environment to the real world environment and apply what they have learned is an invaluable part of their education process."

First-year Strategic Public Relations master's candidate O'Tierney hales from Anchorage, Alaska and maintains a longtime interest in energy issues. She's already spent a summer doing PR work for Shell Oil as well as worked on an account for a biofuels enterprise.

"They gave us a ton of responsibility and freedom, which I really appreciated," O'Tierney said of both the Milken Institute staff and the USC faculty. "Social media can go viral, so they took a big risk on us. I believe it paid off."

O'Tierney said she spent the three days of the Global Conference waking up at 4:45 a.m. and returning home at 8:00p.m. She attended Tweetforce morning planning sessions and evening debriefings – as well as 12 Global Conference sessions. She tweeted some 700 dispatches via the handle, @migcenergy.

Kiechel reported that the Institute sent out 5,379 tweets during the Global Conference; he estimated that more than 2/3 of those came from the Annenberg Tweetforce.

Some of O'Tierney and her fellow Ambassadors' tweets were used by the Huffington Post as part that site's Global Conference coverage. Others were re-tweeted across the Twittersphere.

Gelbach, a first-year Strategic Public Relations master's candidate from Warrensburg, Missouri, reported that the favorite tweet she sent out during the confab was: "@mikko: 500 of the Fortune 500 companies are hacked right now." She composed that tweet during the panel session, "Cybersecurity: When Hackers Attack."

Said Gelbach: "I liked how attention-grabbing it was and how it emphasized the need for companies to be proactive in their security measures."

O'Tierney said she was tweeting so much, and at such pace – 59 times during the one-hour session, "Economic Development: Heating Up the Arctic" – that at one point Twitter temporary locked her out, figuring her to be a possible spammer.

Undeterred, the resourceful grad student composed her tweets in a word document. Once social media access was restored, she then sent out the backlog. This, O'Tierney said, happened to other members of the Tweetforce as well. Chalk up another, albeit unanticipated, learning opportunity.

"I feel like I have a better handle – no pun intended – on Twitter now," O'Tierney said. Laughing, she added, "And writing in 140 characters is now something I dream about."

Read the Annenberg students' tweets via the Milken Institute Global Conference's sub-handles: @migcind, @migcind2; @migchealth; @migcfinance; @migcfinance2; @migcmedia; @migcenergy; @migcregions; and @migcregions2.

Photos
Strategic Public Relations

Kun’s “Trouble In Paradise” relates LA music history through story of social and political turmoil

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:03:59 GMT

Communication and journalism professor Josh Kun has curated with The Grammy Museum the first large-scale exhibit on Los Angeles music by an LA museum. “Trouble In Paradise: Music and Los Angeles, 1945-1975” has been unveiled in conjunction with the Getty initiative Pacific Standard Time.

The exhibit, which will be open until June 3, is the culmination of nearly a year of work by Kun to research and collect artifacts and ephemera. He had the help of USC Annenberg students in his Fall 2011 class COMM 400: Music and Los Angeles, which was dedicated to the topics of the exhibit.

The showcase features iconic images, album art, handbills, concert posters, newsreels, rare filmed interviews clips of artists and a digital jukebox loaded with nearly 100 songs from the period. There is an entire room dedicated to the impact of cars, music and radio, as well as art by Ed Ruscha, Henry Diltz, and Robert Landau.

“Trouble in Paradise” focuses on the tensions between the myths of Southern California as a sunny paradise and the realities of social struggle here post-World War II.

“We’re focusing on the broken myths and promises of LA in those years,” Kun said. “We focus on things like the Watts riots, the Sunset Strip riots and the Chicano civil rights movement – key cultural and political upheavals.”

So, while The Beach Boys were part of LA’s music in that period, Kun’s goal is to educate museum-goers about the layers of culture, politics and popular art going on beyond “Surfin’ USA.”

“My hope is that people get a very different understanding of post-World War II LA through its music. That they come away understanding the multilayered aspects of life in Los Angeles in that period,” Kun said. “I hope they come out thinking not only of the Beach Boys but understanding that at the very same time they were putting out records, so were leading African-American artists and Latino artists. These were worlds happening at exactly the same time.”

Genres of music highlighted in the exhibit include surf rock, jazz, R&B, Laurel Canyon folk rock, the Sunset Strip rock scene and the East L.A. Chicano sound, all of which helped shape the most diverse and influential music scenes in America.

See coverage of the exhibit by The Associated Press here
And KPCC’s story here
Find details about the exhibit here

Universal Pictures partners with PR class to engage fans in centennial celebration

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 23:59:59 GMT

Universal Pictures partnered with USC Annenberg to develop ideas to celebrate the Studio’s 100th anniversary.

Now, one of the USC students’ ideas is taking off on April 30 with the first-ever inflight film festival to commemorate the Studio’s legacy and 100 years in moviemaking. Universal Pictures is teaming up with American Airlines to welcome customers onboard Flight 1 and Flight 22 with this special in-air transcontinental film festival featuring two of Universal’s beloved films, Field of Dreams and Seabiscuit.

To prepare the students for the task of creating potential activities for the Studio’s 100th anniversary, senior executives from Universal Pictures presented professor Matthew Le Veque’s graduate class at USC Annenberg with the centennial’s overarching themes and objectives. The 17 students from Le Veque’s Social, Digital and Mass Media Strategies class were then asked to brainstorm and create campaign ideas in the spirit of Universal’s fans.

“The partnership with USC was a great way for us to create an initiative that was authentic and appealed to our fans,” said Rick Finkelstein, Universal Pictures Vice Chairman and COO. “We’re excited to share Universal’s special day with select American Airlines customers. This is a fun and interesting way for us to engage and bring fans together, while celebrating our anniversary. We’re grateful to the students at USC and American Airlines for helping us highlight our 100 years in moviemaking with this unique opportunity and partnership.”

As a toast to Universal’s special day, customers onboard select American Airlines flights between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) will be invited to sit back and enjoy the films. Gift bags will be distributed at the gates of participating flights prior to departure, giving customers a coupon for a free 15-minute inflight internet session, headphones and classic movie candy.

Fans will have a chance to be one of 10 winners, randomly selected from qualifying tweets. Winners will receive an in-air Universal Centennial Blu-ray prize pack. Anyone can join in for a chance to win by using the hashtag #Universal100 in their tweets from April 30 through May 1.

“The Universal Studios 100th Anniversary partnership, in which our students were challenged to come up with creative strategies and tactics for an extraordinary event, is a perfect example of the real world opportunities we seek for our USC Annenberg students,” said Jerry Swerling, director of the Strategic Communication and Public Relations Center at USC Annenberg. “We are thrilled that Universal Pictures is using one of our students’ ideas and are grateful for this opportunity.”

This first-ever in-air film festival is just one of the many activities the Studio has planned during its yearlong celebration. Initiatives like this are designed to bring special memories back to longtime movie lovers and fans, and to engage new audiences with Universal’s extraordinary library of films. For more information regarding Universal’s Centennial year, visit http://Universal100th.com.

Real-Time Diplomacy: Politics and Power in the Social Media Era

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:51:55 GMT

USC Center on Public Diplomacy Director Philip Seib’s new book, Real-Time Diplomacy: Politics and Power in the Social Media Era (Palgrave Macmillan), offers insights into one of the most important challenges of the 21st century: How can policymakers shift away from being mere spectators and address the political realities of a social-media-oriented society?

Seib (pictured, left) considers this question in the context of the events in the Arab world that began in 2011.

“The 2011 uprisings in the Middle East proved that democracy retains its appeal, even to people who have long lived without it,” Seib said. “They also illustrated how, in a high-speed, media-centric world, conventional diplomacy has become an anachronism. Not only do events move quickly, but so too does public reaction to those events. The cushion of time that enabled policymakers to judiciously gather information and weigh alternatives is gone.”

Real-Time Diplomacy analyzes the essential, but often unhappy, marriage between diplomacy and new media, evaluating media's reach and influence, and determining how policy makers might take advantage of media's real-time capabilities rather than being driven by them.

In Real-Time Diplomacy, Seib asks a vital question: How can any policymaker keep afloat in the flood of information coming from a vast number of sources?

And, as the events of 2011 illustrate, power can emanate from the public, and so developing and maintaining ties with publics around the world is an essential element of foreign policy.

Seib is a professor at USC Annenberg and is director of USC's Center on Public Diplomacy. He is the author and editor of many books, including Headline Diplomacy, The Global Journalist, Beyond the Front Lines, The Al Jazeera Effect, and Toward a New Public Diplomacy.

Real-Time Diplomacy: Politics and Power in the Social Media Era

In primetime TV dramas, drug users are not arrested

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:28:35 GMT

With the legalization of marijuana back in the headlines on the eve of 4/20, a new study says that America’s most popular primetime shows reflect growing skepticism about the effectiveness of the 40-year-old War on Drugs, which was debated this week at the Summit of the Americas.

The study also found that primetime dramas stayed closer to reality than common stereotypes about what drugs Americans are abusing and what drug users look like. A video by digital remix artist Joe Sabia featuring the report’s findings on the War on Drugs can be found at www.primetimedrugs.com.

The Primetime War on Drugs & Terror report was released by the Norman Lear Center at USC Annenberg. The study analyzed 49 hours of 10 top-rated TV series with storylines including terrorism or drugs that aired in 2010. Shows included NCIS, CSI: Miami, Law & Order: SVU, House and The Good Wife.

Major findings included:

In TV storylines about the War on Drugs, drug users are not arrested and drug suspects are often portrayed as morally ambiguous or even heroic.
In these TV shows, 65% of drug suspects are white, accurately reflecting that the vast majority of drug users (and likely offenders) in the U.S. are white.
Despite the predominance of African-Americans and other minorities in U.S. prisons for drug violations, most drug manufacturers and dealers in the series studied were white.
Prescription drug abuse and methamphetamines were depicted three times more often than recreational marijuana.

The full report can be found at www.primetimedrugs.com. The content analysis was carried out by Princeton Survey Research Associates International using an instrument designed by the Lear Center. The ACLU provided funding for the study, which was conducted and released independently.

For more information about the project go to www.primetimedrugs.com. For a video about the report’s findings on the War on Terror, visit www.primetimeterror.com.

The Norman Lear Center is a multidisciplinary research and public policy center studying and shaping the impact of entertainment and media on society. For more information, visit www.learcenter.org.

The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism (www.annenberg.usc.edu) is a national leader in education and scholarship in the fields of communication, journalism, public diplomacy and public relations.

Dean Wilson credits his Academy election to USC Annenberg’s achievements

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:10:32 GMT

By Jackson DeMos

Dean Ernest J. Wilson III said his April 17 election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences is a testament to the innovation and successes occurring at USC Annenberg.

“It’s flattering to have been asked to join this very prestigious organization,” Dean Wilson said. “What excites me is that it is a reflection of the tremendous achievements of the students, faculty and staff here at USC Annenberg.”

There have been countless accomplishments during Dean Wilson’s almost five-year tenure at USC Annenberg. To name a few:

An addition of 29 exceptional faculty members, including transformational professors such as Henry Jenkins
An enhancement to both the curriculum and student experience, including the addition of a sports minor, a new sports and society focus in the M.A. in Specialized Journalism degree, and the start of a Media, Economics & Entrepreneurship program that prepares students to understand changes in their industries through courses, research and collaboration
A focus on innovation, including the launch of the Annenberg Innovation Lab
A strengthened commitment to international programs and partnerships, including new or expanded undergraduate and graduate study abroad/internship opportunities in countries such as Ireland, China, South Africa and England, and the addition of the USC U.S.-China Institute to USC Annenberg’s arsenal of centers and programs
A host of national and international awards, including in just the last month: the second consecutive USC Annenberg student named student journalist of the year by the National Association of Black Journalists; University Professor and Wallis Annenberg Chair holder Manuel Castells winning the $775,000 Holberg International Memorial Prize; “Impact” winning the College Television Award – the equivalent of an Emmy; and the School of Journalism winning AEJMC’s national Equity & Diversity Award
A $50 million gift from the Annenberg Foundation to support a new state-of-the-art building with groundbreaking set for Nov. 8

“To me, the exciting part is the growth and trajectory of the Annenberg School,” Dean Wilson said. “I’m delighted about the recognition for what the School is doing, and I hope it gives me a platform to speak about the ongoing dramatic innovations that we’re all pursuing here at USC Annenberg.”

Ideas for more growth and opportunities for incoming students are constantly being hatched and fine-tuned, but one area that Dean Wilson sees expanding across the School is the creation of new opportunities for shared experiences among students across USC.

“As the communication professions converge, it has become imperative that we provide all students with common experiences in the classroom, labs and programs,” he said. “Students tell us they value the perspectives they gain from interacting with students and faculty outside their degree program.”

USC Annenberg held its first “One School, One Book” program this year where USC Annenberg students and faculty joined professor Jenkins to discuss his book, “Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide,” which examines media convergence, participatory culture and collective intelligence. Dean Wilson called the book essential reading for any future or current communication, journalism or public relations professional.

Future common experiences will occur in places such as classrooms and laboratories designed to include students from across the university so they can work together to solve problems they might see in their future careers.

Dean Wilson said these opportunities are just a few examples of what he calls the “Annenberg advantage” in action.

“We really are among the best in the field and we can take risks others can’t take,” Dean Wilson said. “This nomination makes a statement about what we’re doing here in terms of our innovation and our forward-looking approach to these topics.”

Dean Wilson elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:28:23 GMT

Dean Ernest J. Wilson III has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies.

“Dean Wilson and Distinguished Professor Midori (another USC faculty member elected) continue to advance their respective fields with innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to ways of communicating – through new mediums of technology and through the beauty of a musical composition,” said USC provost and senior vice president for academic affairs Elizabeth Garrett. “Their work and dedication reflect the values of our academic community, and their election into this venerated academy celebrates great scholarship of consequence.”

Dean Wilson is holder of the Walter Annenberg Chair in Communication. Wilson’s experience at the intersection of communication and public policy spans the private and public sectors. He has served as a consultant to the World Bank and the United Nations, led research centers and academic departments at premier institutions of higher education, such as the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania, and worked in government at the White House National Security Council and the U.S. Information Agency. He also advised President Barack Obama’s transition team on matters of communication technology and public diplomacy.

Nominated by President Bill Clinton in 2000, Wilson served on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from 2000 to 2010, the last year as chairman. He is a member of the Carnegie-Knight Commission on the Future of Journalism Education and The National Academies Board on Research Data and Information.

Wilson’s academic focus is on the convergence of communication and information technology, public policy and the public interest. His current work concentrates on China-Africa relations, global sustainable innovation in high-technology industries, and the role of politics in the diffusion of information and communication technologies.

“I am deeply honored and humbled to be elected to the Academy of Arts & Sciences,” Dean Wilson said. “With its remarkable history and mission to solve complex and emerging social problems, the Academy is a testament to the power of collaborative thinking across the arts and sciences. I am delighted to be included in the company of so many distinguished, multidisciplinary scholars and leaders, and I look forward to contributing to the advancement of the Academy’s goals.”

Since its founding in 1780, the Academy has elected leading “thinkers and doers” from each generation, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 19th, and Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the 20th. The current membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.

With the election of this year’s class, the number of living fellows from the USC faculty is 27, in addition to five members from the USC Board of Trustees.

“Election to the Academy is both an honor for extraordinary accomplishment and a call to serve,” said American Academy of Arts & Sciences president Leslie C. Berlowitz. “We look forward to drawing on the knowledge and expertise of these distinguished men and women to advance solutions to the pressing policy challenges of the day.”

The new class will be inducted at a ceremony on Oct. 6, at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

University professor Geoffrey Cowan, director of USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership and Policy, was named an American Academy of Arts & Sciences Fellow in 2009.