Alison Trope, PhD, is a clinical professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and director of undergraduate studies for the School of Communication. She is founder and director of Critical Media Project, a web based media literacy resource focused on representation and identity (gender, race, class, sexuality, disability, religion, age). Critical Media Project is used in Los Angeles Unified School District and other secondary and higher education institutions across the country. Trope serves on the Board of the National Association of Media Literacy Educators (NAMLE) and is faculty director of the Institute for Diversity and Empowerment at Annenberg (IDEA). Trope is the author of Stardust Monuments: The Saving and Selling of Hollywood (Dartmouth, 2012), which explores the enduring efforts to memorialize and canonize the history and meaning Hollywood takes on in our everyday lives. She has also written about the history and current state of Hollywood philanthropy and activism. Trope received her PhD in Critical Studies from the School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California in 1999, and has since taught a range of courses in the Annenberg School for Communication in media and digital literacy, popular culture, visual culture, fashion, gender and social change.