Dean Ernest J. Wilson III and USC Annenberg faculty and staff members welcome new and returning students to the 2012-2013 academic year. “It’s going to be a pleasure to work with you over the next coming years,” Dean Wilson told new students at a meet-and-greet before A Taste of Annenberg: New Student Assembly and Involvement Fair. “We will provide you with the opportunity and encouragement to experiment across the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism." Dean Wilson emphasized the importance of “common experiences” among all USC Annenberg students, which includes “One School, One Book,” a program designed to bring together members of the school community in a common experience of reading, interpreting, discussing and debating one book that highlights issues and questions that are important to communication scholars and practitioners. This year’s book was authored by communication professor Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown, titled “A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change." Dean Wilson introduced multiple communication, journalism and public relations professors who are looking for USC Annenberg students to get involved in their interdisciplinary studies, including:
- Josh Kun, director of the Popular Music Project, which treats popular music as a key site for education and pedagogy and for re-thinking questions of society, culture, history and communication.
- Félix Gutiérrez and Robert Hernandez of the Ruben Salazar Project, which allows students to create a digital archive of the famous journalist's public and private life.
- Former Dean Geoffrey Cowan and his Center on Communication Leadership & Policy.
- Public relations professor Kjerstin Thorson, whose research explores the effects of digital and social media on political engagement, activism and persuasion.
- Journalism professor and holder of the Knight Chair in Media and Religion Diane Winston, who has taken her classes on trips to Israel, the West Bank, and India in recent years to do reporting on religion.
- Gabriel Kahn and Christopher Holmes Smith of the Media, Economics & Entrepreneurship program.
- Roberto Suro, who took his “Negotiating and Reporting Global Change” class to Cuba, Miami and Washington, D.C. this summer.
- Mike Ananny, who researches the public significance of systems for networked journalism.
- Jonathan Taplin and Gabriel Kahn of the Annenberg Innovation Lab, which focuses on media, culture, and society as the basis for innovation at the intersection of art, science, design, and engineering.
- Daniel Durbin, director of the Annenberg Institute of Sports, Media and Society.
“It is a terrific time to be studying and understanding communication, and I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that there is no better place to be doing that than at the USC Annenberg School,” Vice Dean and School of Communication Director Larry Gross said. Said School of Journalism Director Geneva Overholser: "We encourage you to be among the innovators, the inventors, the people who are reimagining two fields that have an enormous impact on the nation. This is a great place to do it." After the new student assembly, nearly 5,000 students, faculty and staff attended the new student picnic and involvement fair (see photos). Twenty-seven centers, programs and student organizations had information tables available for the students to discover how to get involved with co- and extra-curricular activities. A Taste of Annenberg: New Student Assembly and Involvement Fair Photos
