Dean James S. Bullock’s Installation Address
February 5, 2026
Remarks by James S. Bullock at his installation as the 23rd dean of the USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Thank you, President Kim.
I want to begin by thanking my family. My youngest daughter, Susie, is missing her rowing practice to be here today. Thanks Susie, for giving up something I know you love to do, and for the willingness to face the wrath of your coach.
My oldest daughter, Vivian, is missing something even more major: a water polo game. In fact, a tournament game! Thanks Vi, for choosing this and for maybe having to do a few extra laps the next time you’re in the pool.
And finally, my wife Blake is here, even though just this Monday she took on the incredible responsibility of being the new Executive Vice President of The Aerospace Corporation. Thanks, Blake, for always supporting me, even as you somehow pull off the trifecta of being an amazing wife, the best mom ever, and the world’s most beautiful aerospace executive.
I’ve been at USC Dornsife for more than seven months now. And what a seven months it’s been. I don’t need to remind people here of the necessary but difficult steps we’ve had to take recently. In fact, many people have come to me to say, “Geez, I hope you’re okay … how has it been to start like this?”
The answer I keep giving is that I’ve been doing “hard things alongside good people.” The leadership team in this college is wonderful. This is a list of leaders that includes a bunch of excellent department chairs, Vice Dean Renee Perez and great college-wide staff, as well as the divisional deans, Aaron, Bill, Ian, and Rebecca; and the college deans Emily and Steve. Thanks for being so dedicated, collegial, smart, and creative — and for simply being a joy to work with. I also want to thank my predecessors, Interim Dean Moh El-Naggar and Executive Vice Dean Stephen Bradforth, as well as the fabulous group of USC deans from all the schools for welcoming me. It truly is an honor to sit alongside you.
And to Provost Guzman and President Kim: you have been such supportive and thoughtful leaders. I’m grateful that I get to work under your guidance. I’d also like to acknowledge Kathy Leventhal and the rest of the Dornsife Board of Councilors, who have provided sage advice since the time of my recruitment. And finally, though they could not be here today, I offer deep appreciation for Dave and Dana Dornsife, who are among the most impactful and thoughtful Trojans in the history of this university.
I’d like to now share a personal story that I hope will give you a sense of how I came to stand here today.
One of my earliest memories, from when I was about five years old, is of my dad bringing home a telescope. He had borrowed it from a friend and set it up in the yard, pointing up at the moon. Before this, to me, the moon had just been a light in the sky. But when I looked through that little eye piece, it was different. There were craters, shadows, what looked like mountains.
I couldn’t have explained it then, but this experience sparked something. It changed the way I thought about the world and my place in it.
First, there is a lot to learn.
Second, the universe is big. Much bigger than this yard or this town. So big that it might make differences between me and other people seem small.
The moon, it turns out, is about 240,000 miles away. The sun is even farther, about 92 million miles. Light, which travels at 186,000 miles per second, takes more than eight minutes to reach the Earth. That is, we see the sun as it was eight minutes ago. But even that distance is tiny compared to the universe we know. Light from the most distant galaxies observed with the James Webb Space Telescope has taken more than 13 billion years to get here. We see these galaxies as they were at the very dawn of the universe. We see these galaxies as they were before the Earth existed. In fact, for the most distant galaxies, we see them before the carbon atoms in our bodies existed.
For some people, the vastness of space and the depth of cosmic time makes them feel insignificant. If you feel that way, think about it this way: you are a member of the species that figured this out.
Here on this tiny planet, in a blink of a cosmic eye, we’ve learned some phenomenal things. We are fragile and short lived, but also capable of the incredible. Human beings are made of atoms, those atoms are forged the in hearts of stars, and they are now assembled in a way that allows us to look up at the night the night sky, ask big questions, write extraordinary novels, love, collaborate, and to seek to understand something of our place in the universe.
If you can hold these truths in your mind at the same time, that we are both incredibly precious and incredibly capable, then you may begin to recognize some things. Every moment we have is special. Every connection. Every act of creation and discovery. To study ourselves, through the humanities and social sciences is to study the miraculous. To study the rest of creation through the natural sciences is equally profound.
When people hear the words “liberal arts,” they often misunderstand the phrase. You might think of specific subjects, and some might even think that the liberal arts are synonymous with majors that are a waste of time. But of course, that’s wrong.
The term “liberal arts” originates from the Latin phrase “Ars Liberalis.” Where Liberalis means “free,” and more specifically, a kind of free that is the opposite of servile. Ars means “skill,” the kind of skill that allows a person to grow and succeed. The liberal arts then are about empowering free people with the skills they need thrive.
The first person on record to refer to the liberal arts was Cicero, the great Roman statesman, who 2,000 years ago advised that the best way to prepare free citizens for a successful, thriving life was a broad-based education that included an understanding of human emotion, skills in literary expression, and a comprehensive “scientia” of many things. Cicero said that education should be about fundamental understanding, communication, and critical thinking. Sound familiar?
So here we are, two millennia later, asking what to do as educators. With the rise of AI, the future of work and society itself is as uncertain as it has ever been. It seems wise then to prepare students with evergreen, fundamental skills that will allow them to lead into the future no matter what it is. We need to deliver on what the liberal arts have always been about.
The USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences is extremely well positioned to lead in an era when the liberal arts will be more crucial, more essential than ever.
The College consists of 36 academic departments, divided among four large, thriving divisions: humanities, social sciences, life sciences, and mathematics and physical sciences. There is excellence throughout, including an English department with two Pulitzer Prize winners in the past 10 years. We are also home to multiple pathbreaking institutes that drive impact out from the ivy tower into the world. Programs like Public Exchange, the Wrigley Institute for Sustainability and Environment, and the Center for the Political Future are working to improve communities, nurture the environment, and promote dialogue across the political divide.
And speaking of impact, I would like to remind everyone that our chemistry department is one of only eight in the country with multiple Nobel prizes. One of those prizes, to the late George Olah, recognized his work on carbo-cat-ions, which is directly responsible for the modern methods used to produce lead-free gasoline. Recent estimates suggest that lead-free gasoline saves more than one million lives per year. So, on behalf of Dornsife: you’re welcome.
As we position ourselves to be the premiere liberal arts college in the country, it’s important that we focus on a phrase that keeps coming up in discussions of higher education: “Return on investment.” I would argue that the long-term return on investment from the liberal arts has always been its selling point. The breadth provided by a deep understanding of the scope of history or foundational mathematics sets the stage for long-term success in jobs of import and meaning. Nevertheless, the short-term return on investment, that is, the ability for a student to get a job on day one, is a place where liberal arts majors have faced steeper hurdles. An employer might ask: “I know you’re smart and a deep thinker and all, but what can you do for me now?”
To help alleviate this pinch point, Dornsife is piloting a new degree offering for USC called an “Intensive.” Intensives are focused, three-course sequences designed to document valuable, employment-focused skills and proficiencies. Some examples of Intensives we are developing include AI for Molecular Biology, Financial and Practical Economics, Mathematical Data Science, and Writing and Communication in the Age of AI. Intensives will appear on student transcripts (and probably their LinkedIn profiles) and provide evidence of valuable skills to future employers. Our broader goal is to innovate in the education space and focus our attention on providing students with a modern approach to the liberal arts, true to foundational principles but updated for students and job markets of today.
As I move to close, I’d like to return to that night when I was five, looking through that little telescope for the first time. I talked about how a major thing happened with me that shaped my future trajectory. But something else happened that night, something I didn’t recognize at all until I was putting this together. My dad hit a home run. He brought that telescope home because he thought, he hoped, that my brother and I might like it. And it worked. It helped me discover a passion for something that ultimately led me to where I’m standing right now.
Isn’t this what we all want for our kids? We want them to discover something that inspires them, something they can build upon, and, yes, hopefully a career. But more importantly, to have a fulfilled and happy life.
The purpose and value of higher education is fundamentally linked to that pursuit of happiness. Being exposed to great literature, deep ideas, and beautiful artistic notions, is part and parcel to that quest. This has nothing to do with grades, or job titles, or even income streams. Once your belly and bank accounts are full, what do we reach for?
We reach, metaphorically at least, for the stars.
Thank you. And Fight On!