Lifelong Learning

JEP House, University Park Campus 

Saturday, March 22, 2025 at 10:00 a.m.

Spend the morning on campus at the Joint Educational Project (JEP) House during USC Alumni Day of SCervice. Volunteers of all ages are welcome!

Virtual Event 

Monday, March 24, 2025 at 12:00 p.m.

A discussion of Natalie Lauren Belisle’s new book, Caribbean Inhospitality: The Poetics of Strangers at Home (Rutgers University Press, 2025). The author will be joined in conversation by Jossianna Arroyo-Martínez (University of Texas) and Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel (University of Miami), moderated by Nayan Shah (USC). Organized in partnership with the Department of Comparative Literature and the Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures.

Verna and Peter Dauterive Hall (VPD), 203, University Park Campus

Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at 12:00 p.m.

Parker Hatley (PhD candidate, Harvard University and 2024-2025 USC Shoah Foundation Katz Research Fellow in Genocide Studies) will discuss the transnational origins of counterinsurgency and development, focusing on plantation agriculture and political violence in Guatemala. Drawing from his fieldwork and testimonies from the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG) and the Visual History Archive, he explores how the nation’s history of land disparities and large agricultural estates continues to fuel conflict today.

Doheny Memorial Library, DML 110C, University Park Campus

Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at 12:30 p.m.

Jessamyn Abel will explore Japan’s post-World War II democratization, which required more than just a new constitution. Institutions like the national broadcaster, police, and Parent-Teacher Associations played a key role in reshaping social attitudes and daily practices to support democracy. However, the term “democracy” held different meanings for different people, and these institutions often promoted behaviors that advanced narrow interests under the banner of democracy. The talk will examine how these efforts shaped the function of democracy in Japan.

Virtual Event

Thursday, March 27, 2025 at 4:00 p.m.

Drawing on concepts developed in The New Real, this talk will look at one of the first award-winning novels in Japan that was partially written by AI in terms of Karatani Kojin’s modes of exchange.  Kudan Rie’s Tokyo City Sympathy Tower presents the failure of new modes of exchange through the novel’s thematizations of both AI and neoliberal infrastructure.  This dystopian alternate reality and near future fiction presents a new mode of exchange in which justice is exchanged for an AI that patrols for politically correctness and cancel culture, reshaping the prison system and thought itself.

Grimshaw, 432 Colyton Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013

Thursday, March 27, 2025 at 5:30 p.m.

Join CLF-LA and USC Public Exchange for a discussion on the challenges and opportunities of translating embodied carbon research from academia to real-world applications in the built environment, presented by Professor David Gerber, Julia Sulzer, and Sophie Pennetier.

Virtual Event 

Monday, March 31, 2025 at 11:00 a.m.

Please join us for the next Spatial Sciences Brown Bag, featuring Gregory Elwood, for an engaging presentation and discussion of the various geospatial technologies that support wildfire command centers. After a 20-year career in Computer Graphics in the Entertainment Industry in Los Angeles, Elwood changed careers, becoming a GIS Technician for the National Park Service, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. This discussion will include how these technologies have evolved and the importance they play prior to, during, and post-incident.

Hahn Plaza, University Park Campus 

Tuesday, April 1, 2025 at 12:00 p.m.

The opening ceremony of Armenian History Month will feature  remarks by President Carol Folt, a special dance performance, lots of Armenian cuisine and more.

USC Town and Gown, University Park Campus 

Thursday, April 3, 2025 at 12:00 p.m.

A signature USC Earth Month event, the annual conference hosts experts from politics, government, media and academia to discuss climate change issues with a focus on finding practical policy and business solutions as well as identifying ways to remove political
obstacles in the implementation. Panelists will discuss the effects of the
presidential election on climate policy.

CASA 0101, 2102 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90033

Thursday, April 3, 2025 – Sunday, April 6, 2025

Join us for workshop performances of Homeboys, a new musical celebrating the iconic L.A.-based nonprofit that began serving former gang members and at-risk youth in 1988. Created by Alberto López, Greg Koppenhaver, and Mark C. Marino, and co-produced by CASA 0101, the original theatre piece follows six homeboys and homegirls as they try to leave la vida, recounting the founding of Homeboy Industries by Father Greg Boyle and featuring pan-Latin musical styles from 1990s rap to reggaeton and cumbia.

Mark C. Marino (book and lyrics) is a professor in the Dornsife College Writing Program at USC, where he directs the Humanities and Critical Code Studies (HaCCS) Lab.

Virtual Event 

Friday, April 4, 2025 at 12:00 p.m.

Join the USC Institute on California and the West for a discussion with James Tejani about his new work, A Machine to Move Ocean & Earth.  This groundbreaking work dives into the history of the Los Angeles Port, charting the port’s rise out of the mud and salt marsh of San Pedro estuary and showing how the story of the port is the story of modern, globalized America itself.  Interweaving the natural history of San Pedro into this all-too-human history, Dr. Tejani will share with us how a wild coast was made into the engine of American power.

Doheny Memorial Library (DML), 240, University Park Campus 

Friday, April 4, 2025 at 2:00 p.m.

Join us for a dialogue with distinguished speakers – former UN Ambassador Cho Hyun and Councilmember Jon Kaji on “Opportunities and Challenges for US-Asia Relations” moderated by Professor Jane Junn, USC Dornsife

The West Coast US-Asia Scholars Network is an event that brings together senior scholars and mid-career professionals who study topics related to US-Asia relations with some interest in policy relevance or public intellectual space.

This year’s public event will address topics of importance to US-Asia relations in politics, economy, and diplomacy.

*This event will be filmed for a video publication. 

Ginsburg Hall, University Park Campus

Saturday, April 5, 2025 at 10:00 a.m.

The USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies and the Armenian Society of Fellows are pleased to announce On the Cutting Edge of Science and Tech: CA and Armenia Together, an innovative conference.

The conference will feature world-renowned scientists from institutions such as Stanford University, the California Institute of Technology, and Meta, who will share their groundbreaking work in astrophysics, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. These distinguished experts will provide insight into how their pioneering work is shaping the future of science and technology.

Sinai Temple, Barad Hall, 10400 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90024

Sunday, April 6, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.

This panel discussion will focus on the increasing gap between home ownership affordability and rentership. In a recent Creditnews Research Study, Los Angeles was named the most unaffordable city in the nation. How will the Los Angeles Jewish community continue to thrive if people are driven further from historically vibrant community centers in search of affordable housing? Panelists will discuss what can be done to reverse restrictive land use and opposition to new development, contributing to the growing increase in housing unaffordability.

Ronald Tutor Campus Center (TCC), 227, University Park Campus

Monday, April 14, 2025 at 3:30 p.m.

The Department of Classics Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities presents: The Civic Bargain:  How Democracy Survives
Is democracy in trouble, perhaps even dying? Pundits say so, and polls show that most Americans believe that their country’s system of governance is being “tested” or is “under attack.” But is the future of democracy necessarily so dire? In The Civic Bargain, Brook Manville and Josiah Ober push back against the prevailing pessimism about the fate of democracy around the world. Instead of an epitaph for democracy, they offer a guide for democratic renewal, calling on citizens to recommit to a “civic bargain” with one another to guarantee civic rights of freedom, equality, and dignity.

USC Brain and Creativity Institute’s Joyce J. Cammilleri Hall (BCI), University Park Campus

Wednesday, April 16, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

“A System in Collapse Is a System Moving Forward”

A Dance Performance-Lecture by Aimar Pérez Galí and Daniel Méndez Piña

Reception to follow.

Panelists:

Aimar Pérez Galí, Dancer

Amelia Jones, Vice Dean and Professor, USC Roski School of Art and Design

Patrick Corbin, Associate Professor, USC Kaufman School of Dance

Gian Maria Annovi, Associate Professor, Italian and Comparative Literature, USC Dornsife College

Miguel Caballero-Vázquez, Assistant Professor, Iberian Studies, Northwestern University

Virtual Event 

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025 at 4:00 p.m.

Join Emiliano Rodriguez Nuesch, Chris Benner, and Manuel Pastor for an online film screening and a discussion of the themes in their latest book Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles, and a Just Future.

Ray Stark Family Theatre, University Park Campus

Wednesday, April 23, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.

The USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future, Bridge Entertainment Labs, and the USC Dornsife Wrigley Institute of Environment and Sustainability invite you to join a screening of True False Hot Cold.

This award-winning documentary is centered around climate change, empathy, and civil discourse. It was filmed in Utah over the course of one summer in a county where many residents don’t believe in climate change. Instead of focusing on the obvious divisions, the documentary offers ideas about building bridges with people who have very different identities and beliefs.

Virtual Event

Thursday, April 24, 2025 at 12:00 p.m.

Join the USC Institute on California and the West for a conversation between Professors Alice Baumgartner and Katria Jagodinsky, moderated by Professor Julian Lim, about their current research projects on the legal ramifications of freedom and unfreedom in the American West from the late 19th into the early 20th centuries.

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Friday, May 2, 2025 at 9:30 a.m.

With expert speakers and panels, we will explore the impact of dams on the environment, communities, and water resources, and the debate and ramifications of dam removal in the American West. Don’t miss this opportunity to dive deep into the complex world of dam management, removal, and environmental conservation. See you there!

Please note: This event includes 2 parts, which can be registered for together or separately.

Overview of the Day:

9:30am – 3:00pm: Expert Presentations & Panel Discussions, Stewart R. Smith Boardroom

7:00pm – 8:30pm: Keynote Speaker, Rothenberg Hall and Roy C. Ritchie Auditorium

Virtual Event

Thursday, May 8, 2025 at 4:00 p.m.

The USC Center for the Political Future (CPF) is partnering with The Village Square and Florida Humanities for their “UNUM: Democracy Reignited” series to host a discussion about transforming toxic polarization in the United States using lessons from international peacebuilding efforts.