Speeches and Video Messages

Howard Gillman became the 20th dean of USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences in June 2007. In March 2011 he became the first dean of the USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. He is the holder of the Anna H. Bing Dean’s Chair and is a professor of political science, history, and law.

As dean, Gillman has responsibility over the largest, oldest, and most diverse academic unit on the University Park campus. USC Dornsife comprises 33 academic departments, dozens of research centers and institutes, 6,698 undergraduates, 1,278 Ph.D. students, 390 master's students, and nearly 800 faculty members who have expertise across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Dean Gillman has been credited with accelerating USC Dornsife’s reputation for world-class research and scholarship, recruiting outstanding new faculty, overseeing ongoing improvements in the quality of Ph.D. education, promoting innovation in academic programs, increasing fundraising, and expanding undergraduate opportunities to conduct research, study overseas, and engage in service learning.  

Dean Gillman joined the university faculty in 1990. He previously held appointments as associate vice provost for research advancement and chair of the Department of Political Science. He is among USC’s most decorated teachers. He was tapped as a faculty member of the month by the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society and is a Distinguished Faculty Fellow at the Center for Excellence in Teaching. In 2001, Gillman received USC Dornsife’s General Education Teaching Award as well as the university’s highest award for career achievement in teaching, the USC Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Gillman is a nationally recognized expert on constitutional studies and judicial politics. His first book, The Constitution Besieged, received the C. Herman Pritchett Award from the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association. He has also authored or co-edited three other books, including most recently The Votes That Counted: How the Court Decided the 2000 Presidential Election. He has to his credit more than 30 other publications and more than 40 conference papers and meeting presentations.

A native of Los Angeles, Gillman earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in political science from UCLA.