Susan Kamei

As Managing Director of the USC Dornsife Spatial Sciences Institute, Susan H. Kamei oversees the Institute’s strategic initiatives, external relations and administration of its academic and research enterprise. Her expertise is in the creation, development, and operations of innovative educational models, and she has been a leader at USC in expanding its graduate online programs, establishing protocols for academic assessment, and enriching the student experience.

In addition to her career at USC in academic administration, including service as an associate dean for the USC Dornsife, she also is Adjunct Professor (Teaching) in the Van Hunnick History Department. She created and teaches HIST 460: War, Race and the Constitution, an undergraduate seminar on the World War II incarceration of persons of Japanese ancestry and its political and social relevance today. 

She is the author of When Can I Go Back to America: Voices of Japanese American Incarceration During World War II (Simon & Schuster 2021) and has appeared in broadcasts by media outlets such as NPR, C-SPAN, BBC, France 24, PBS and NBC.

The awards she has received in recognition of her scholarship and contributions to USC include the USC Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Recognition Award, the USC University Club Faculty and Staff Recognition Award and the USC Undergraduate Student Government Community Achievement Award.