Thematic Option Honors Program

The imagined boundaries between disciplines provide structure and allow for specialization within academia, but rarely map onto the real world so neatly. Instead, in our increasingly complex and globalized society, creative problem solvers must be able to draw on a wide variety of perspectives and knowledge systems in order to effect positive change. Accordingly, T.O.’s curriculum consists of honors-level interdisciplinary courses taught around distinct themes, through which our students satisfy USC’s general education requirements. In dialogue with faculty from across USC Dornsife, fellow T.O. students from each of USC’s 23 schools and academic units, and rich primary texts from a variety of voices, times, and epistemologies, our students learn to think without being constrained by the methods or central concepts of any one academic approach.

Each year, a cohort of around 200 outstanding freshmen join T.O., representing just 4% of the overall entering class at USC. This small, self-selecting group, while not necessarily like-minded in terms of backgrounds, interests, or perspectives, shares a deep sense of curiosity and commitment to life-long learning. Through the cohort experience, an emphasis on collaboration over competition, and opportunities to connect both inside and outside the classroom, T.O. students often form bonds with one another that far outlast their time at USC. In these and other ways, T.O. provides a personal and supportive entry point to USC and the broader Trojan Family.

T.O. Professors are known for their commitment to students, record of scholarship, and excellence in teaching. Moreover, just like our students, they opt in to T.O. and are excited to support highly-motivated young scholars throughout their undergraduate journeys. Tasked with iterating variations on the CORE course themes, our faculty take academic risks in the development of classes that do not fit neatly into their home departments, or, indeed, anywhere else at the university. With an average of just 17 students, these classes facilitate personal interaction and the development of mentoring relationships between faculty and students that often continue well beyond the end of any particular semester.

As polymaths in the making, T.O. students are often academically adventurous and ambitious. Accordingly, T.O. advisors help them conceptualize flexible, integrative academic plans that address all aspects of their intellectual identities. Such a task requires individualized, holistic advising that recognizes students as whole people and honors the interplay of academic, social, and personal domains. This means T.O. advisors support students from recruitment to graduation and beyond, leading small-group information sessions, hosting events and socials, chaperoning field trips, proctoring class evaluations, and providing walk-in and appointment-based advising. T.O. advisors, therefore, are present, approachable, and poised to forge significant connections with our students.

As an expression of USC’s mission to produce knowledge and knowledgeable students, T.O. seeks to foster a culture of intellectual risk-taking on campus. To that end, T.O. serves as a sandbox for new and innovative approaches to teaching and learning, encouraging our faculty to expand on traditional methods through the integration of experiential learning opportunities like film screenings, guest speakers and performers, weekend retreats, field trips, research projects, and interactive multimedia and information technology. Additionally, T.O. offers new iterations of the themed CORE courses each fall and spring and regularly collaborates with both internal and external partners to develop Alternative Spring Breaks, May- and Julymesters, and other unique learning experiences for our students.

In addition to co-curricular opportunities tied to specific classes, each year, T.O. curates a slate of extracurricular programming open to our broader community that leverages Los Angeles as an extension of our academic environment. Through nature hikes and coastal exploration, live theatre and music, cultural festivals, museum exhibitions, behind-the-scenes tours, research conferences, and more, T.O. students experience embodied, real-world contexts for the ideas they study, grounding their learning in the rich milieu of arts, sciences, and public life that characterizes this vibrant metropolis.