Humanities

(Photo/Cintascotch/Room Collection/Getty Images) The Pursuit of Happiness

The Surprising Impact Happiness Has on Health, Relationships and Even the Economy

Researchers across disciplines at USC turn a scientific eye on happiness and its complex connection to our health, relationships and economy.

PHOTO BY JOHN D. AND CATHERINE MACARTHUR FOUNDATION The Storyteller

Viet Thanh Nguyen Wins Acclaim for Explorations of Identity and Displacement

The USC professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author is named a 2017 MacArthur Fellow.

A fried chicken prom corsage is just one of the memorable images in Journey's poetry. | Illustration by Jacqui Oakley Art of Darkness

USC Poet Anna Journey Explores Her Darker Side

USC poet Anna Journey is unafraid to explore the quirky, creepy, scary and plain old peculiar.

This piece from USC Libraries’ special collections documents the conversion of Henrique Gilte, who gave up the Protestant faith of his parents for Roman Catholicism at California’s Mission Santa Clara in 1839 | PHOTO BY PAULA GOLDMAN AND PROVIDED COURTESY OF USC LIBRARY ARCHIVES Hands-On History

Students Immerse Themselves in the Past to Uncover Untold Stories

From traveling abroad to digging through treasures, USC undergraduates go beyond the book to interpret history.

Viet Thanh Nguyen has been awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. (Photo/Courtesy of Viet Thanh Nguyen) Challenging Identities

Pulitzer Prize Winner Reflects on Misconceptions About Refugees

Viet Thanh Nguyen explores how the world views refugees—40 years after he arrived in America as one himself.

USC VIterbi’s Chris Kyriakakis and an international team of researchers studied Greek religious spaces | PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRIS KYRIAKAKIS Surround Sound

He Uses Sound to Travel Through Time

Chris Kyriakakis is on an acoustic journey for the ages. And there’s chanting…lots of chanting.

Food for Thought

Philosophy Hones Critical Thinking and Career Prospects

Now, more than ever, reasoning skills matter.

Photo by Amanda Schwengel, courtesy of Hampshire College Prized Poet

Poetry Debut Earns National Book Award

USC Dornsife student garners the prestigious literary honor for her first book of poems.

Illustration by Chris Gash Master of Mind Games

The Science Behind Our Habits

A USC psychology researcher delves into the surprising ways your subconscious mind affects your actions.

Illustration by Selcuk Demirel Write On

Can the Book Survive in the Digital Age?

As a digital revolution sweeps through the publishing world, storytelling is alive and well—and English is thriving at USC.

The Case for Celebrating Accountants

For USC’s Jacob Soll, it’s time that good accountants get the respect—and historical spotlight—they deserve.

Photo courtesy of Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania A Weighty Issue

America’s Early Love Affair with Sugar and Fat

An 18th-century family cookbook chronicles cooking in the U.S. Surprise: Americans have long been in love with scrumptious sweets.

Photo by Mark Brown Innovative Storytelling

The Next-Generation Newsroom

USC Annenberg School of Journalism Director Willow Bay wants students to get adventurous.

Megan Rosenbloom is a leader in the national "let's talk about death" movement. Photo by Elli & Polly Photography Being Human

A USC Librarian Explores Mortality

Once a year, around Halloween and Día de los Muertos, we dwell on death. That isn’t nearly often enough, according to Megan Rosenbloom, for whom the “undiscovered country” is a year-round scholarly pursuit.

A Historian Explores the Evolution of Surfing

Trojans weigh in on that most quintessential of Southern California sports: surfing.

Lewis Carroll wrote the letter in 1891. Photo courtesy of the USC Digital Library / Cassidy Lewis Carroll Collection For the Record

USC Libraries Preserve Lewis Carroll’s Literary Lamentations

In celebrity-crazy LA, hand-scripted words by C.L. Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) about fame find a fitting home—123 years later.

REUTERS/Radu Sigheti Witness Protection

USC Shoah Foundation Collects Lessons Learned and Shared Beyond the Holocaust

From Rwanda to Nanjing, the Shoah Foundation preserves the voices of genocide witnesses.

Photo by Max S. Gerber Witness Protection

Holocaust Survivor’s 3D Projection Keeps History Alive

An interactive 3-D program allows students to engage firsthand with a Holocaust witness.

Witness Protection

Digital Technology Ensures the Lessons of the Holocaust are Never Lost

The USC Shoah Foundation painstakingly guards the last remaining voices of the survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust.

Photos by Max S. Gerber The Nobel Man

Arieh Warshel, a Biochemistry Pioneer, Wins Nobel Prize

USC’s Arieh Warshel figured that the dawning computer revolution in the late ’60s and ’70s might push biochemistry beyond the limits of the lab. It led him on a trail to the Nobel Prize.

Read On

Book Saviors to the Rescue

The USC Libraries Shelf Life program pairs special library books with devoted readers.

Photos by Cody Pickens Finding a Muse

Los Angeles by the Book

Three highly regarded USC novelists draw from the city’s eccentrics and ordinary folk for their inspiration. But that doesn’t mean they have L.A. all figured out.