Rebecca Lemon

Divisional Dean for the Humanities

Professor of English, Comparative Literature and History

Rebecca Lemon joins the Dornsife leadership team as the divisional dean for the Humanities. In this role, she coordinates strategic planning, faculty appointments and research advancement. She supports departments, centers and institutes in recruiting and retaining outstanding faculty and advancing innovative research, and helps faculty navigate administrative challenges. She also collaborates with USC Dornsife leadership, and leaders throughout the university, to support and enhance research and education in the Humanities at USC.

Lemon specializes in early modern literature and culture, and her work focuses on thorny issues, including treason, tyranny, and addiction. She has appointments in the Departments of English, Comparative Literature and History. Her award-winning scholarship has received fellowship support from the Mellon Foundation, the ACLS, the Huntington Library, and the Stanford Humanities Center. She currently at work on a book on early modern responses to the emergencies of food scarcity, plague, climate crisis, and political unrest.

Lemon’s record of service to the university includes terms on the University Committee on Academic Promotions and Tenure, which she currently co-chairs, the Provost’s Strategic Planning Committee, the Provost’s search committee, and the Trojans for Excellence pilot training program in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.