Community Engagement News > USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Former California Gov. George Deukmejian stands with USC Dornsife undergraduate Janet Shamilian, who is earning a bachelor’s in political science and progressive master’s degree in public administration, during Deukmejian’s recent visit at USC. Photo by Shahe Melian/Arka Photography.

‘If I Could Do It . . .’

March 28, 2013

During a recent talk at USC, California’s former Gov. George Deukmejian, recounted his efforts to have the slaying of 1.5 million Armenians by the present-day Republic of Turkey during and after World War I recognized as… more>

categories: community engagement

tags: armenia, armenian genocide, george deukmejian, political science, richard dekmejian, usc institute of armenian studies

Amy Gross and Christian Ramos, both fourth-grade teachers at Lenicia B. Weemes Elementary School near USC, proudly display abstract shapes they created from paper plates to find the center of mass — just one example of a fun and inexpensive classroom project they can use to engage and inspire their students in STEM subjects. Photos by Susan Bell.

Springboard to Teaching STEM

March 21, 2013

Like divers, 60 teachers, magnet coordinators and principals from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) lifted their arms high over their heads and flexed their knees as if preparing to plunge from imaginary… more>

categories: joint educational project, diversity, community engagement

tags: human and evolutionary biology, jill mcnitt-gray, joint educational project, los angeles unified school district, stem, tammara anderson, usc viterbi school of engineering

USC Dornsife undergraduate twins Jazmin (left) and Cynthia Vidana teach children to read through the Joint Educational Project (JEP). Photo by Carlos Puma.

Naming Gift for JEP Library

March 19, 2013

Marking the first naming of a space in the JEP House, the Tesoriero family has designated funds from their USC Associates Provost-level membership to advance this community-based program. The Tesoriero’s gift will… more>

categories: joint educational project, diversity, community engagement

tags: gift, joint educational project, literacy

USC Trustee Steven Spielberg, who established the USC Shoah Foundation — The Institute for Visual History and Education in USC Dornsife nearly two decades ago, announces the IWitness Video Challenge at Chandler School in Pasadena, Calif. Kori Street, the institute's director of education, stands with Spielberg. Photo by Kim Fox.

Mending a Broken Spirit

March 8, 2013

With a scarcity of food in the ghetto, Stephen Howard was told his beloved dog had to go. “We no longer had food for the dog so my father said the dog had to be put to sleep,” Howard said solemnly on videotape,… more>

categories: community engagement

tags: contest, holocaust testimonies, iwitness, steven spielberg, usc shoah foundation

Author Shoson Nagahara employed a gritty, proto-noir style in writing about Japanese immigrants living in 1920s Little Tokyo. This 1924 image, "Little Tokyo: An Alley" is one of the many historical photos printed in <em>Lament in the Night</em> (Kaya Press, 2012). Photo by Toyo Miyake, courtesy of Toyo Miyake Studio.

Lament in the Night

March 1, 2013

The man quietly passes through the shadows, hungrily seizing a half-rotten watermelon rind from the ground at the now-deserted marketplace, later retching miserably. After checking and rechecking his coin purse for any… more>

categories: writing program, diversity, comparative studies in literature and culture, community engagement

tags: huntington-usc institute on california and the west, japanese immigrants, kaya press, lament in the night, little tokyo, master of professional writing program, publication

This woman in her early 20s was trafficked into a blue jean sweatshop in Thailand, where she and others were locked in and made to work 20 hours a day, sleeping on the floor, with little to eat and no pay. She managed to escape and was brought to the government-run Baan Kredtrakarn shelter in Bangkok. After telling her story to the director, the police were informed and they raided the sweatshop, freeing 38 young women, ages 14 to 26. Photo by Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department.

Prosecution to Empowerment

February 6, 2013

Emblematic of the shallow level of dialogue taking place concerning human trafficking is the “celebritization” of the global crisis, panelists said during a recent international conference organized by USC… more>

categories: research, faculty research, diversity, faculty diversity, community engagement

tags: alice echols, american studies and ethnicity, conference, gender studies, human trafficking, manuel pastor, rhacel salazar parreñas, sociology

Tory Holland, a senior in USC Dornsife, took advantage of the many scholarship opportunities at USC, some from the USC Alumni Association. Photo by Pamela J. Johnson.

Becoming Scholarship Savvy

January 16, 2013

USC Dornsife senior Tory Holland was holding down a job at the Joint Educational Project (JEP), working 15 hours a week supervising volunteers while taking classes as a double major. Some days, she worked and took classes… more>

categories: undergraduate, diversity, undergraduate diversity, community engagement

tags: academic scholarships, alumni scholarships, joint educational project, scholarships, tory holland

Brittany Berns (left) and her colleague Sabi Yoto, a fellow teacher at Toucountouna's secondary school. Berns taught English and helped to expand a school as a Peace Corps volunteer in Toucountouna from 2010 to 2012. Photo courtesy of Brittany Berns.

A Rising Star

December 6, 2012

At 6 a.m., Brittany Berns would awake to the sound of her neighbors’ breakfast pans clacking. Nearby, roosters crowed and pigs snorted. After grabbing a bite of rice and beans, Berns would pull a bucket of water from… more>

categories: alumni, community engagement

tags: africa, alumna, benin, brittany berns, international relations, peace corps, teaching international relations program, tirp, wayne glass

Robert English, the new director of USC Dornsife’s School of International Relations, has tales to tell about his overseas exploits. Photo by Dietmar Quistorf.

Front-row Seat to the World

November 8, 2012

There’s no learning experience quite like getting out of the classroom — especially when the focus is on global politics. For Robert English, incoming director of USC Dornsife’s School of International… more>

categories: research, faculty research, community engagement

tags: international relations, international travel, problems without passports, robert english, social sciences, steve lamy

From left to right, USC Dornsife Dean Steve Kay, USC President C. L. Max Nikias, USC Trustee David Dornsife, Dana Dornsife, Joyce Cammilleri, University Professor Hanna Damasio, University Professor Antonio Damasio and USC Provost Elizabeth Garrett, prepare to cut the symbolic ribbon during the Nov. 6 opening ceremony. Photo by Steve Cohn.

Pillars of Support

November 7, 2012

The newest building at USC is organized like a brain, with spaces for both rational inquiry and appreciation of the beautiful. It’s a fitting home for a research center that merges the latest advances in neuroscience… more>

categories: research, community engagement

tags: antonio damasio, brain and creativity institute building, david and dana dornsife, dean steve kay, joyce cammilleri, music, neuroscience, president c. l. max nikias

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