Finding Your Happy Place
Cover Story:
We puzzled long and hard over what to put on our cover for this issue. Happiness means so many different things to so many different people. How to distill its essence into one perfect image of joy?
By Susan Bell
Contents
Contrary to popular opinion, when it comes to our well-being, our lives do not represent an inevitable decline from the sunny uplands of youth to the valley of death. Instead the opposite is true — we can confidently look forward to old age as the happiest time of our lives.
History has no laugh track, so how do we measure our changing conceptions of happiness through the ages?
Ego Nwodim ’10, now in her second season as a cast member of Saturday Night Live, graduated from USC Dornsife with a degree in biological sciences — never doubting she would succeed as an actor.
We believe that love and money will make our lives happier. But will they?
USC Dornsife researchers are creating innovative new products and businesses to mend the planet and create a strong economy
Our family relationships have considerable impact on our well-being — both positive and negative.
After earning her Ph.D. in Earth sciences from USC Dornsife in 2009, Jingmai O’Connor has carved out a stellar career as a paleontologist in China, where she found not only access to thousands of exceptional fossils that can’t be seen anywhere else in the world — but also the freedom to be herself.
Contact Us
USC Dornsife Magazine
c/o Crisann Begley-Smith
1150 S. Olive Street, Fl. 24
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Senior Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Communication
Lance Ignon
Editor-in-Chief
Susan Bell
Art Director/Production Manager
Letty Avila
Writers and Editors
Michelle Boston
Margaret Crable
Darrin S. Joy
Jim Key
Stephen Koenig
Designer
Dennis Lan
Videographer and Photographer
Mike Glier
Communications Assistant
Deann Webb
Contributors
Lilly Kate Diaz, Emily Gersema, Greg Hardesty, Rhonda Hillbery, Eric Lindberg, Laura Russell, Annamaria Sauer