USC Dornsife News

Through immersive, hands-on learning, USC Dornsife’s Los Angeles Service Academy prepares the next generation of civic-minded leaders.

The investment from the WHH Foundation helps secure the institute’s future and expand its reach.

We think of Southern California as arid and drought-ridden, but from 1861 to ’62, much of it was underwater after a series of deadly winter storms caused widespread devastation and flooding. USC Dornsife history scholar Will Cowan says it could happen again. [12¾ min read]

On Nov. 20, 1969, a group of activists attempted to reclaim the location of the infamous prison for the native people who had once occupied it. USC Dornsife faculty discuss the implications of the event, which kicked off nearly two years of protest that would shape Native American land rights activism for the next five decades. [4 min read]

“Over L.A.: Aerial Accounts” conference explores the past, present and future of Los Angeles as a city that is anything but superficial.

During a weeklong seminar, USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute, based at USC Dornsife, inspires 35 middle and high school teachers nationwide to teach their students about the latest scholarship on the early American experience.

Alumnus Dan Johnson teaches reading skills to homeless students in Los Angeles with a textbook he created to speak to their experiences. [4 min read]

From the Victorians’ morbid fascination with death to the Civil War’s profound influence on American mourning rituals to our current tendency to ignore or deny the inevitability of our eventual demise, USC Dornsife scholars explore our dramatically evolving attitudes toward death and mortality.

USC Dornsife’s William Deverell will lead the new project that will bring scholars and collections together to allow researchers to build on current studies in areas such as Los Angeles and California history, Holocaust studies and LGBTQ history and culture.