USC President Steven B. Sample said today is an exciting day for USC and its Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism as he helped officially install Ernest J. Wilson III as the School's dean at a Nov. 29 ceremony at USC's Town & Gown.
"I am certain that Ambassador Annenberg would be very proud as we officially welcome a dean who will build on the traditions of the past while responding to the challenges of the future," Sample said. "I believe that we have chosen a dean who will lead our faculty and students through the undiscovered — and sometimes unpredictable — territory that is the field of communication, a man who will lead this School to ever greater heights of achievement."
Trustee Wallis Annenberg announced a $1 million gift to the USC Annenberg School as she said Dean Wilson's abiding sense of community will serve the School well.
"I am so proud to have Dean Wilson moving this School forward," said Annenberg, who added that Dean Wilson's work has embodied a work of interconnectiveness. "Dean Wilson will stay true to the premise on which this school was founded: the power of communication to save and enrich lives. But he will carry its work into an exciting new era, one for which he is singularly qualified."
Dean Wilson's speech to a standing-room only crowd focused on the future of USC Annenberg and the role of communication in an evolving society.
"It is through our bonds to others, within a given community, bound together through the exchange of symbols and sounds, that together we make knowledge," said Wilson, who will also hold the Walter Annenberg Chair in Communication. "The vision I propose today will I hope result in the Annenberg School being even more strongly positioned at the epicenter of the dramatic changes before us, achieved through our creativity, our innovation and our excellence. We are already on our way.
"USC Annenberg is at the intersection of all that is important in the transition to an information society. Given our trajectory and our future ambitions for global networked excellence, we are not there yet. But we have something many other communication schools don't have — adequate resources to think boldly, to envision a better world that we can help create."
Dean Wilson said the world is changing from an industrial society to a media-drenched society driven by new knowledge. The center of these changes is the communication revolution.
"Fortunately, we have the basic ingredients we need to become even more of a leader, if not the leader in this transition to a networked, global knowledge and communication society," Dean Wilson said. "USC Annenberg is already a great School that sits at the center of a great research university, in the center of a great city. Our next challenge is to develop and deepen our already superb schools and centers of research and teaching excellence."
Said Sample: "As with the Industrial Revolution, the most important transformations of the Information Revolution will likely be unpredictable. We have only one certainty — we will be surprised."
Dean Wilson also announced the dedication of the Geoffrey Cowan Forum (formerly room 207), named after Dean Wilson's predecessor who held frequent meetings and "Dean's Open Forums" in the room.
"The room has become in many ways a symbol for rational, mutually respectful dialogue and communication," Dean Wilson said. "Geoff's steadfast commitment to a civil and open exchange of ideas is a tradition that I strongly want to celebrate and preserve."
Annenberg said she is certain Dean Wilson will continue to move the School forward and stay true to the premise it was founded upon.
"My hope has always been that this School would not remain static," she said.
Dean Wilson — with his new themes of internationalism, impact and innovation — is already showing that the School will continue moving forward.
"Both Wallis and Mrs. Lee Annenberg have consistently pressed me to articulate and act upon a vision for the School that builds upon its great traditions, but that also seeks new and innovative ways to meet the opportunities and tackle the social problems that confront us in today's complex environment," Dean Wilson said. "For that I am very grateful."
Dean Ernest J. Wilson III speech (unedited)
Trustee Wallis Annenberg speech (unedited)
