Richard Fliegel is Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs in USC Dornsife College.  Working with the Vice Dean for Academic Programs and faculty across the College’s departments, Dr. Fliegel creates new interdisciplinary curriculum, manages University-wide academic programs, and researches the assessment of critical thinking.   He directs the USC General Education program, the Freshmen Seminar program, and Interdisciplinary Major, and oversees Dornsife College’s on-campus summer programs through the Interdisciplinary Studies (INDS) office.   He has report responsibility for the Writing Program and Thematic Option, and at one time or another has overseen the Dornsife Advisement Office, the Language Center, the community-based service-learning Joint Educational Project, and other programs and projects. 

Dr. Fliegel’s research explores the use of student writing for their classroom instructors as a method for assessing the growth in critical thinking that takes place over their undergraduate years.  In addition to his research and administrative duties, Dr. Fliegel writes fiction and original work in other media.   He has published detective novels with Bantam and Simon and Schuster and short stories in collections.  His book A Minyan for the Dead was nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America, and as a member of the WGA West he has written for Star Trek and ABC network television.