Unlikely hero in LGBTQ+ history is back in the spotlight
🏳️🌈 PRIDE MONTH: A Trojan’s new documentary tells the story of a USC Dornsife professor who took a public stand against gay conversion therapy.
Trojan brings authenticity to the growing number of LGBTQ+ characters in animation, video games
🏳️🌈 PRIDE MONTH: Actor JP Karliak launched Queer Vox, a nonprofit training academy and community for LGBTQ+ voiceover actors.
Trojans shine at 75th Tony Awards
Alumni and faculty among those celebrated during the awards that honor distinguished achievement on Broadway.
Raising Voices
Actor JP Karliak ’03 founded nonprofit Queer Vox to train LGBTQ+ voiceover actors and help them network and find mainstream roles in animation and video games.
The Cicada Creates a Buzz
Some people have a flair for playing instruments. Ho-Chun “Herbert” Chang PhD ’23 has a knack for inventing them. A trained violinist and scientist, Chang wanted to bring an “acoustic sound and feeling to electronic music.” So he created an electronic instrument that did just that: the Cicada synthesizer.
Alum creates the first poetry library in California, emphasizing works by poets of color
Hiram Sims opens the Sims Library of Poetry, a space for people from Inglewood and the rest of Los Angeles to read, write and create.
Trojan Marching Band begins summer stints at the Hollywood Bowl
The Spirit of Troy kicked off the Bowl season by sharing the stage with headliner Gwen Stefani and the band from that other university across town.
Julia M. Ritter named dean of the USC Kaufman School of Dance
The dance artist and professor led the dance department at Rutgers University, earning recognition for her scholarly and choreographic research.
Showcasing the role of food in the lives of Mexican and Mexican American grandmothers in L.A.
USC Dornsife’s Sarah Portnoy and USC Annenberg’s Amara Aguilar join forces to create the exhibit Abuelita’s Kitchen: Mexican Food Stories and a related course teaching students how to use digital media to share oral histories.
From stage and screen to the academe, it’s all about storytelling for new PhD
COMMENCEMENT 2022: Lauren Alexandra Sowa’s experience as a child actor drove her decision to focus her USC doctoral studies on media, production culture and fandom.
Peace Pods bring islands of serenity to USC community
The Peace Pods project, a collaborative effort of USC Arts in Action, provides solitary space for people to decompress from everyday life.
Trojan Family gets up-close introduction to new band director at spring concert
The USC Concert Band’s spring concert on Sunday, “Inspirations,” features music with a personal meaning to Director Jacob Vogel.
Art Reflects Two Worlds: One of Peril, One of Possibilities
Students from USC Roski School of Art and Design use their creative talents to reflect on nature, how it has endured, how it struggles, and most important, how humankind has used—and misused—it.
Luis J. Rodriguez, Reginald Dwayne Betts among winners of L.A. Times Book Prizes
The Book Prizes ceremony at USC’s Bovard Auditorium is a prologue to this weekend’s Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC, the nation’s largest literary and cultural festival.
Robert Cutietta awarded Presidential Medallion for advancing USC’s values in the field of the arts
As dean of USC Thornton School of Music and USC Kaufman School of Dance, Cutietta introduced groundbreaking programs and oversaw the opening of the university’s first new school in more than 40 years.
Chernobyl opera makes U.S. debut at USC
EARTH WEEK: USC Thornton collaborates with Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy to create All The Truths We Cannot See: A Chernobyl Story.
Nice purse — you’d never guess it’s made from recycled theater backdrops
EARTH WEEK: Trojan Jennifer Wheeler Kahn transforms theatrical leftovers, including the curtain from USC’s Bing Theatre, into sustainable fashion goods.
Public art exhibit showcases global worldview of climate change
EARTH WEEK: Students are transforming giant globes to communicate abstract ideas about the climate crisis.
Getting in Tune With Nature Around the West
Study finds decade of insignificant change for women in popular music
In 2021, 23% of artists on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Chart were women — a far cry from the percentage of women in the U.S. population (51%).
USC Thornton alumni and faculty win at 2022 Grammy Awards
Music school faculty member Vince Mendoza and alumni Grant Gershon, Robert Istad and Carlos Rafael Rivera are among those who won awards.
BD Wong and Charlayne Woodard named USC School of Dramatic Arts commencement speakers
COMMENCEMENT 2022: The award-winning artists will address graduates during two commencement ceremonies on May 13.
Saturday Night Live star and USC Dornsife alum Ego Nwodim to deliver school’s 2022 commencement address
COMMENCEMENT 2022: Nwodim, who made her name in acting and comedy after graduating from USC Dornsife in 2010 with a degree in biological sciences, will speak during the college’s satellite ceremonies on May 13.
Director and producer Nigel Lythgoe named USC Kaufman’s 2022 commencement speaker
COMMENCEMENT 2022: Lythgoe — co-creator, executive producer and judge on So You Think You Can Dance and executive producer of American Idol — is one of the original members of the school’s Board of Councilors.