Undergraduate Education

Local city councilman, businessman and USC Dornsife alumnus Jon Kaji and his siblings establish Bruce and Frances Kaji Family Endowed East Asian Studies Center (EASC) Fund.

A Maymester course brought undergraduates to religious sites across India, where they observed how traditions around death help form how the country’s citizens view themselves and their place in the world.

From Socrates to the Salem witch trials, what happens when ideas go on trial? Prof. Ed McCann’s philosophy course explores how the legal system can shift the direction of an entire culture when a person is taken to trial for their perspective and beliefs.

Peyote, cannabis, and coffee have all been used in religious practices around the world. In Prof. James McHugh’s course “Drugs, Alcohol, Visions and Altered States in Religion,” students investigate how some substances have been treated throughout history.

From interviewing to video editing, students in “Recording the Voices of Latinx Women & Food in Los Angeles” used a wide swath of skills to amplify the voices of indigenous, mestiza, Mexican American and Afro-Mexican grandmothers and their food culture traditions — work that was featured in a public exhibit.

An ecology class taught by Prof. Julie Hopper gets students doing their own field research: catching insects around the world. In the process, they see the mechanics of evolution up close and personal — and squirmy.

Thanks to a generous $10 million gift, more undergraduate and graduate students from low- and middle-income families will have opportunities to travel to and learn in the nation’s capital.

A USC Dornsife Maymester course offers undergraduates an opportunity to engage with human rights activists, politicians and diplomats in one of the world’s least studied, most fraught regions.

Through the generosity of donors, the Dornsife Washington DC Program immerses students in real-world policymaking through internships and courses.

Three USC Dornsife students helped excavate the 2,000 year-old, partially mummified remains of a citizen of the lost Roman city.

USC Dornsife’s Wrigley Institute Scientific Diving Discovery Program helps students from underrepresented groups get certified as professional science divers.

Jonathan Laifman’s passion for cars remained a constant while he decided on a career path at USC Dornsife, an explorative journey that led him to both physics and law.

Inspired by an international relations course — and her brother’s tendency to tap into her own hair care supply — international relations and global business major Shamillah Iga looks to meet a demand among men looking to sport longer hairstyles.

Through a summer course in Tulum, Mexico, USC students learn yoga and mindfulness. It’s part of a new minor aimed at helping students take control of their health.