What impact did your graduate experience have on your professional trajectory?

My graduate experience shaped me to be a critical thinker and interdisciplinary researcher in my professional academic trajectory. USC Annenberg allowed me to build a knowledge production praxis in which communication theory informs my research and pedagogical activities, and vice versa. Furthermore, I received superb mentorship from the PhD faculty who are the most innovative in the communication, media, and culture fields.

What from your USC Annenberg education best equips you to face the challenges of your field today?

The opportunity to be in a PhD student cohort inspired me to pursue and produce knowledge for future generations of communication undergraduate students. The opportunity to work with other PhD students that were passionate about their own research interests made me feel less alone in an academic environment that often can become a lonely pursuit. I thank my 2008 cohort and other cohorts who were present during my studies.

What advice would you give for someone considering graduate studies at USC?

Remain open to the various disciplines and methods that faculty at Annenberg can share with you. Often, students get stuck in aligning themselves with one theoretical and/or research tradition in the field. Such an approach is limiting and will not allow you to grow within the program and expand toward your own intellectual vision after you graduate.

What is the one thing that a USC Annenberg student ought to take advantage of while enrolled?

Learning from and working with the various Annenberg research centers. Furthermore, venture outside of Annenberg and expose yourself to professors and classes in the other disciplines and schools within USC as a larger university ecology.

Villanueva’s notable projects:

• Recent publications in Online First, Cultural Studies <--> Critical Methodologies, AAPI Nexus Journal: Policy, Practice, and Community, Journal of Popular Music Studies, and others. 
• Awarded the Transformative Education Award in 2018 by Loyola’s Student Diversity and Multicultural Affairs department.
• Interviewed by Urban Social Change and Volcano Radio.