Dean’s Report 2021
As we mark USC Annenberg’s 50th anniversary, our community of inquiry is embracing change, generating new ideas, and charting a course for sustained innovation, re-invention and growth.
The strong foundations we have put in place and our deep commitment to innovation give us the resilience and fortitude required to continue delivering on our reputation for excellence. As the stories below demonstrate, we have persisted in advancing the core pillars that have been the focus of our efforts: strengthening academic programs, deepening research and impact, expanding critical conversations, and improving student experiences and outcomes in the classroom and beyond.
Willow Bay
Dean, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
Walter H. Annenberg Chair in Communication
Classroom and Beyond
Pathways to success
The ViacomCBS HBCU Diversity in Journalism scholarship allows Mariah Hill to explore race and culture through storytelling. This and GRoW @ Annenberg and Iger-Bay scholarships create a pipeline for journalists of color to enter and lead in newsrooms.
Fueling curiosity
Communication honors program allows undergraduates to further hone their research skills.
Preparing the next generation
Annenberg Youth Academy for Media and Civic Engagement ignites Abraham Flores’ love of storytelling — and brings him to the University Park Campus.
Behind the music
Latin Recording Academy Fellows create a multi-platform digital campaign designed to demystify the Latin Grammys voting process.
Publications
Critical Conversations
As communication continued to reshape the way we live, work, play, solve problems and consider our future, USC Annenberg brought together experts to examine these complex changes in real time. We teamed up with Spotify to launch the World of Podcasting online series, which highlights diverse voices across popular genres and innovative formats. We hosted dialogues among scholars and professionals, including Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. Our Annenberg Cross-Cultural Student Association fostered a more inclusive community by organizing critical discussions that addressed crucial issues such as the surge in violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. Doctoral students from USC Annenberg and Annenberg Penn held a summer institute to workshop their research on diversity and representation in media and culture with faculty from both schools. In addition, we hosted welcome assemblies for our first-year and sophomore students, who joined our students, faculty and staff on campus this Fall.
300+
in-person and virtual events hosted by USC Annenberg
Research and Impact
Creating a pipeline
Health and Equity Media Collaborative assembles an expert team of young researchers to investigate health disparities among youth of color.
Politics, polarization and purpose
Center for Public Relations’ Polarization Index is the first-ever data science-based index tracking national political division as measured within social media conversations.
Digital divide
Michelson Spark Grant propels research into how the lack of broadband internet adversely affects L.A. communities.
Missing and maligned
The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative examines diversity across the music, film and streaming industries, including the lack of Muslim characters on screen.
Localizing data
Crosstown joins data journalism pilot project with Local Media Association and Facebook Journalism Project.
By the Numbers
Media Highlights
Clinical Professor of Communication Alison Trope explores efforts to improve media literacy.
Assistant Professor of Journalism and Communication Allissa Richardson discusses why the public no longer needs to be constantly exposed to videos of acts of racism or police brutality.
Robert Kozinets, Jayne and Hans Hufschmid Chair of Strategic Public Relations and Business Communication, explains influencer marketing and the growing influencer economy.
Lecturer of Communication Rook Campbell offers advice for sports journalists writing about trans competitors.