Dean’s Report 2023
At this moment, we need creators, collaborators and communicators more than ever.
We need professionals who can adapt to constant and rapid change across the media and communication landscape. To support these current and future leaders, we develop nimble and responsive academic programs and scholarship, build bridges between academe and industry, and support pathways to meaningful careers. We also nurture and support a culture of lifelong learning. The result is an academic community in which we all can thrive and work together toward a brighter future.
Willow Bay
Dean, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
Walter H. Annenberg Chair in Communication
Classroom and Beyond
Navigating the future
In the school’s first course focusing exclusively on artificial intelligence, students learn to interrogate, experiment with, and deploy AI tools and technologies.
Unapologetically herself
GRoW @ Annenberg scholar Kaleef Starks elevates conversations that advance LGBTQ rights and create a path toward acceptance and healing.
Inside look
Students share key takeaways from Maymester programs in New York, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles.
Storytelling gold
Gearing up for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and 2028 in Los Angeles, students acquire the skills necessary to produce multiplatform coverage of these mega-events.
Inspired change
Annenberg Youth Academy for Media and Civic Engagement alumni share how the program transforms academic and professional pathways.
Expanded playbook
Professor Robert Kozinets’ textbook provides a window into his popular course and examines how influencer relations is transforming the rules of marketing and public relations.
Publications
Oil Beach: How Toxic Infrastructure Threatens Life in the Ports of Los Angeles and Beyond
Advancing Industry
Ocean of possibility
The Center for Climate Journalism and Communication’s inaugural climate communicator in residence, Sylvia Earle, offers her insights and guidance to students, faculty and SoCal-based climate journalists.
Data and diversity
The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative unveils The Inclusion List, a data-driven ranking that provides the titles of the 100 most inclusive films from 2019–22.
The next wave
USC Annenberg launches new online master’s program in public relations innovation, strategy and management.
Critical Conversations
We engaged in compelling discussions with scholars and professionals across the communication, journalism and public relations fields. Teaming up with Wasserman Music, we hosted a series of discussions, including how to build a career around representing an artist. We fostered dialogues among scholars and professionals such as Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Angel City Football Club co-founders and investors Kara Nortman, Julie Uhrman and Sophia Bush, and CLOT co-founder Edison Chen. Together with POV Agency, we welcomed their COO and managing partner, Pilaar Terry ’02, as executive-in-residence for the Seeing ME in the MEdia mentoring program, which connects first-gen and BIPOC students to explore the communication and media industries. And our first-ever Kind Fest united USC student organizations The Happy Hour Club, Annenberg Cross-Cultural Student Association, Men’s Mental Health Initiative, and the Public Relations Student Society of America as well as USC Annenberg’s Student Services team for an afternoon of activities focused on enhancing well-being.
300+
in-person and virtual events hosted by USC Annenberg
Research and Impact
Voices of a movement
The Charlotta Bass Journalism and Justice Lab creates an oral history project inviting Black Americans connected to pivotal moments in the fight for social justice to shine a light on events or correct a skewed record of them.
Trigger warning
The Norman Lear Center’s Hollywood, Health & Society helps the entertainment industry improve representations of safe and responsible gun use in media.
Digital diary
The Center for Public Relations and Day One Agency examine the state of Gen Z’s media diets, how they consume news, how and why they spend time online, and who influences them.
Mobilizing change
Researchers analyze millions of tweets to shed light on a new dimension of K-Pop’s influence: public health.
The future of work
Marlon Twyman II, assistant professor of communication, and Casey S. Pierce ’08, assistant professor at the University of Michigan, explore how employees are re-evaluating their relationship to communication technologies in a post-pandemic world.
Beyond the buzz
Center for Generative AI and Society dives into the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on culture, education, media and society.
By the Numbers
Media Highlights
Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism Mike Ananny looks at how Generative AI systems act like “stochastic parrots,” using statistical models to guess word orders and pixel placements being incompatible with a free press that commands its own words.
Professor of Professional Practice of Journalism and Director of Journalism (MS) program Lisa Pecot-Hébert weighs in on the state of women’s magazines in 2023.
Research Professor of Communication Kate Crawford joins Chris Hayes’ podcast, “Why Is this Happening?,” to discuss the social and political implications of AI, exploited labor behind its growth, the need for regulation and more.
Part-time Lecturer of Communication Julianna Kirschner explores how political feuds are increasingly out in the open due to social media.
Spaces for Our Future
With the support of the Annenberg Foundation, we launched a capital campaign that will transform the signature spaces in our historic Annenberg School of Communication (ASC) building into dynamic hubs that propel students’ success, further groundbreaking research, and encourage new partnerships and initiatives. The foundation’s gift provides a $5-million grant plus a $5-million matching challenge grant to encourage our alumni, parents and friends to support the renovation. The initial goal is to have the physical infrastructure match the caliber of the school’s ambitions, beginning with ASC’s most critical and visible spaces: its lobbies, auditorium, terrace and classrooms. Make your gift to the ASC renovation fund here.