USC Annenberg 50th Anniversary Edition Feature

The inspiration of leaders. The power of collaboration. The promise of innovation. The importance of truth. ¶ In this special section, you will see these themes emerge as members of our community — students, faculty, alumni, industry partners and longtime supporters — mark USC Annenberg’s 50th anniversary and consider the future we want to create. ¶ Together, let’s explore where we can — where we should — have impact in the years ahead. Through our creative, scholarly and professional work, how can we further Ambassador Walter Annenberg’s founding vision to use communication to understand the profound changes of our time? ¶ Join us as we imagine our next 50 years and continue ADVANCING OUR LEGACY.

Having been at the epicenter of this shift, I know that to have an impact, USC Annenberg must continue developing smart, strategic students who can be the ones to reinvent this business in the future.

Jeff Bader MA, COMMUNICATION, ’86; CHIEF RESEARCH OFFICER, NBCUNIVERSAL

The International Communication Studies program — ICS— is the most en during experience we have as USC students.

The opportunity to travel to different countries and meet people from a variety of media organizations was really the first opening to a world outside of our immediate environment. The program forces you to look at a bigger picture and consider, “Wow, there’s so

much out there, what do I want to do?”

our own voices to a larger world. We hope that USC Annenberg continues to move with the complexities of what communications has become as it prepares students to be leaders in all the various areas, many of which we can’t even imagine in another 10 years, let alone 50.

Looking toward the future, as the program grows and

ICS class at the Houses of

will be ICS’s big endeavor.

Jayne Hufschmid BA, Journalism, ’75, MA, Public Relations, ’80 Jane Centofante BA, MA, Journalism, ’79, ’81

USC Annenberg will be one of the most important places to shape the future of sports media regionally, nationally and globally. The school will play a very visible role in the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games and will be home to the world’s press. How you prepare students for what’s coming is to be trained well and taught well and equipped to be adaptable, innovative and entrepreneurial. The students at Annenberg today will, in the future, be prepared for whatever comes their way.

CHAIRMAN AND CEO, WASSERMAN; CHAIRPERSON, LA28 OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMES

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Arrieta DOCTORAL STUDENT, COMMUNICATION

Casey Wasserman

Alexandria

As a music artist studying internet platforms, I would like to see Annenberg lead the way toward advocating for the needs of digital content creators. Artists creating content for online plat

forms need systems that support their financial viability, mental health and wellbeing. The creator economy will continue to be a significant space for innovation. With the rela

tionships we have in place at Annenberg, we are well positioned to make an impact.

USC Annenberg is surrounded by scholars who are forward thinking. They don’t just rely on best practices, but also on evidence-based solutions coming out of quantitative and qualitative work. Because of this, we could really be the foremost leader, shape shifting industries that routinely face problems and routinely engage in discrimination and prejudice. We could be part of the solution to bringing care and humanity across industries.

IN DIALOGUE

Geoffrey Cowan, University Professor; Annenberg Family Chair in Communication Leadership; Former USC Annenberg Dean

We’re looking at the future and not the past. We’re bringing in professors who help us diversify the thinking process of how we approach our disciplines to ensure they are more expansive and holistic. We have professors already in place, like Stacy Smith, who has played a transformative role in creating change in the film industry with her research on gender inequity. As the chair of the USC Annenberg Board of Councilors,

Mark Greenberg speaking about public broadcasting

I’m confident not only in the great vision of Dean Bay, but the backing of her faculty and administration to achieve that vision. Add another factor to that: The massive support we have in Wallis Annenberg, who absolutely understands that this is what the future of the world needs to be. And knows that we deliver against that.

Mark Greenberg

Chair, USC Annenberg Board of Councilors; USC Parent

Ernest Wilson, Professor of Communication and Political Science; Former USC Annenberg Dean; Founder, Center for Third Space Thinking

VIDEO

Stacy Smith

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF COMMUNICATION; FOUNDER, ANNENBERG INCLUSION INITIATIVE

As a history-oriented person, I think it is important to learn from our past to help shape the future. Educators and students in the field of public diplomacy must be aware of the impact that has previously occurred to excel in foreign relations. Adding more world and military history to the curriculum will help prepare our next group of world leaders.

Jack Tribolet MASTER’S STUDENT, PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

THE NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS COMING OUT OF THIS SCHOOL

ARE ENDLESS.

And right now, Annenberg is especially built to help female leaders. The obligation, I think, of a school like Annenberg is to make sure the pipeline is filled with qualified, diverse storytellers, and that is exactly the direction this school has moved.

Dana Walden BA, COMMUNICATION ARTS AND SCIENCES, ’86; CHAIRMAN, DISNEY GENERAL ENTERTAINMENT CONTENT

Growing up in Singapore in a post-9/11 era and arriving to the U.S. and USC as an international student, I’ve always been deeply led by world affairs and its imprint and impact on how to approach a story.

Now ,as someone who leads award­winning global public relations campaigns on a daily basis, the events of recent years have forever impacted my purview and perspective on how we approach and pitch stories.

Nowadays, every PR campaign needs to be multidimensional to have resonance — media relations needs to be rounded with strategic partnerships, brand building, community awareness — but also allyship. For Annenberg to embrace allyship is to look at what is happening in the world, face what makes you uncomfortable, approach and entertain topics that you probably don’t want to discuss in your curriculum.

Teach students to be connectors and empower your class of future makers. Allyship is not led by ego, vanity or performative acts. Be courageous in your campaigns. Not playing it safe. For a school that has created so many of the leading culture makers and communications experts of the world, students need to be well armed so there isn’t a disconnect between what they’ve learned in the courses and what they’ll encounter in real life.

Meghan Patke BA, Public Relations, ’05; President, Modern Currency PR

Bryan Lourd BA, PRINT JOURNALISM, ’82; CO-CHAIRMAN, CREATIVE ARTISTS AGENCY

The development of journalism opportunities and storytelling for Latinx communities is one of the spaces I’ve been working in for much of my career.

As we look to the future, we need to continue to do more projects that focus on serving diverse communities and advancing what international, national and local journalism means.

One way we can do this is by investing in longer­term projects that focus directly on working with communities

that are considered news deserts to help share their stories. We can also uplift the voices of others who may have been excluded from many mainstream narratives, but who do have important and critical stories to tell.

Working with our communities, deeply listening, and focusing on meaningful engagement is essential as we move forward as a school.

Amara Aguilar Professor of Professional Practice of Journalism

JOURNALISM

Mariela Gomez MASTER’S STUDENT,

Annenberg is well positioned for the future thanks to new scholarship partnerships aimed toward advancing Latinx diversity in newsrooms.

As the inaugural recipient of theParamount Latinx Diversity in Journalism Scholarship, I’m reminded that my lived experiences as a Mexican Ame r ican are assets to academia. We need to use our institutional power to help remove the structural barriers many Latinx students like myself face.

THE FUTURE OF ENTERTAINMENT IS AN EXCITING

I’m excited about what this new generation of creators and journalists is going to show us, and I think that Annenberg is set up beautifully to be the leader in training students to get to the right stories.

PROSPECT IN MY MIND.

Annenberg is perfectly positioned tointentionally cultivate and nurture the next genera tion that will power the media and communications landscape.

It’s incredibly important that we accurately represent the increasingly diverse audience we’re speaking to.

Since graduating and building a successful career in strategic communications, I can personally attest that there is a lack of representation in the industry today. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

As a Black woman, it’s been a driving force for me to change the industry and create a culture that anyone othered ormarginalized for any reason can thrive in. It’s one of the reasons I’m managing partner and COO of POV Agency, an agency that aims to change how PR is done and, most importantly, who it’s done by. Our entire team is people of color and it’s 99% women. The first full­time hire I made was my outstanding mentee from Annenberg’s Seeing ME in the MEdia program in 2020.

Annenberg’s impact should be in focusing on diversity, equity, inclusion and representation. Not only in the student body that it admits, but also in the faculty, academic administrators and working professionals that it taps to instruct its students. Once there is change at the academic level, our industry can’t help but to follow suit.

Pilaar Terry

BA, Broadcast Journalism, ’02; Managing Partner & COO, POV Agency

MCG, COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT, ’01; CO-FOUNDER AND CMO, LIVESPACE

Nelson

I

the value of

The MacArthur Foundation invests in innovative people and projects with the goal of creating a better, more equitable and just world. We look for individuals who aren’t just thinking about today, but who are able to help us see into the future and plan for tomorrow.

At USC Annenberg, we have found such a partner. The school is home to an incredible pool of innovative thinkers and doers who are always looking ahead, forging new and creative ways for people to engage in and learn about the world around them, and to use media to make their communities stronger, healthier and more vibrant.

MacArthur’s investments have helped create the Participatory Civic Media Fellowship with Professor Colin Maclay, which is supporting a new generation of innovative and interdisciplinary artists, creators, storytellers and community organizers to address structural injustices and amplify the voices of impacted communities. MacArthur support also has helped Henry Jenkins’ Civic Imagination

Project, a new approach to community problem solving. Most recently, MacArthur awarded a grant to Allissa Richardson to establish the Charlotta Bass Journalism and Justice Lab, a new center for the study of Black witnessing.

We have invested in these USC Annenberg partners because we believe they are doing the type of visionary work required

country’s

information in a way that can help transform lives or provide a different point of view. As an undergraduate, I told myself that I would never do public relations and now laugh at my naiveté because I have also had to step into PR roles on multiple occasions.

Thien Ho

BA, PRINT JOURNALISM, ’99 AND BA, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS , ’99; SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS, SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT

ideal of a multiracial, multiethnic, pluralist society. We recognize that this is an aspiration that will require continual attention, diligence and imagination for generations to come — a challenge that USC Annenberg is well positioned to lead on over the next 50 years and beyond.

Jennifer Humke Senior Program Officer, Journalism and Media, The MacArthur Foundation

The question really is where can’t Annenberg have impact? For those of us who choose to be in a classroom, the reason we’re signed up is because we have already bought into the fact that we have a responsibility to help shape the future by training students to be inclusive, global storytellers. As they leave Annenberg, we are hopeful they open their peripheral view to make sure the stories they are sharing are infused with diverse perspec tives.

Clarissa S. Beyah

PROFESSOR OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE; BOARD MEMBER, CENTER FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS; CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, UNION PACIFIC

to realize our

democratic

Growing up in L.A., I was determined to become a journalist and I knew that USC Annenberg was the education I needed to reach my goal. However, here I am working in corporate communications instead of the newsroom.

I have no regrets because I learned that the spirit of journalism is about telling stories, connecting with people through shared experiences and sharing

By definition, communication is an interdisciplinary field, so how can we reimagine some of these borders and boundaries that have been so deeply cemented? We created divisions in our field, and thus we can recreate, and reimagine, them. That’s where I would like to see us go in the future — to reimagine how the field of communication can be more collaborative in this moment; a time in our field and in the world that is both so important and so precarious.

MINDS BEHIND THE SCENES

Cook PROFESSOR OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE; DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS; CHAIRMAN, GOLIN

When I think about where the Annenberg School can continue to have impact in the years to come, I think less of the ‘where’ and more of the ‘who’ and the ‘how.’

VIDEO

We need to think like DJs. DJs don’t look at their records and think, “Oh I can’t put a Celia Cruz song with a Jackson 5 song.” They don’t look at their records and think, “I can’t put a quantitative method track with a cultural analysis track or I can’t cue up some data journalism right after a media industries study.” We need to be a school of crossfaders ready to flip any beat and cut between any sound, nimble and omnivorous, at home in the breaks and the impasses and the transitions, hungry for the kinships and the sutures that nobody else would dare to try. Confronting social

and economic emergencies by mixing without erasing, by knowing that to solve any problem — whether climate collapse or health inequalities, political fragmentation or racial and gender injustice — we need to dig through the crates of what we already know — and find new ways to connect. We need to create the new mixes and the new publics that our future world of intensive convergence will require. I don’t know what the new mixes will sound like, but I know that we need to train our students to invent the new methods and technologies of communication they will need to face down whatever challenges to togetherness come next.

Kun Professor and Chair in Cross-Cultural Communication

Josh

Brijea Daniel, Master’s Student, Public Relations and Advertising

We believe social purpose will play a big part in the future of the PR industry. Every company in America is asking the same question. Do we have a responsibility, beyond making money, to engage with the social issues that are important to our employees and customers?

Many CEOs are answering YES.

Fred

Sarah Banet-Weiser PROFESSOR OF COMMUNICATION; DIRECTOR, ANNENBERG CENTER FOR COLLABORATIVE COMMUNICATION

As a Black woman abroad in Paris, I was able to appreciate my larger place in the world and to meet many people with different perspectives. It is important that we have an evergrowing focus on globalization and expansion, as well as a dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Melissa Finney

Michael Nyman BA, SPORTS INFORMATION, ’86; FOUNDER AND CEO, ACCELERATION; MEMBER, USC ANNENBERG BOARD OF COUNCILORS

In 1998, we launched a revolutionary graduate program — the master of arts in strategic public relations. Exactly 20 years later, we examined the program — and the job market — and overhauled it. The new public relations and advertising MA is like nothing I’ve ever seen.

We’re way ahead of what other schools are doing, and to some degree what the industry is doing. We are not only trying to prepare

students for the future, but inventing the future of public relations, marketing communications, and advertising, because those silos are now largely toppled.

We are training students to understand all aspects of communication because we want them to be in the C­suite from the beginning — not only when the decisions are made, and they hand us our assignments.

We will be invited to even more tables, whether the

In my field of advertising and public relations, we talk about data collected by digital devices and how we’re using this information to target audiences and build recommendations. People are becoming experts at applying these algorithms, but we also need to think about how we are being transparent and responsible in what goes into creating these algorithms, for

communications challenge is in AI or aerofoods or our tried­and­true focus on entertainment, sports, corporate and lifestyle sectors. To see and shape the future, we are constantly revamping what skills students learn here, so they can work pretty much anywhere.

Jennifer Floto Professor of Professional Practice; Associate Director, Public Relations Undergraduate Program

example, the principles of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI). I think this is where Annenberg can be bold. Our interdisciplinary faculty can chime in and address the ethical, moral and legal issues of AI technologies, and discuss the role of AI applications in shaping everyday life.

Su Jung Kim ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF JOURNALISM

So much of what we talk about in this industry is how technology is changing our world. I think it’s also important that we focus on how the world is changing, how the face of America is changing, and how that provides a new opportunity for different types of storytelling. The new platforms expand our storytelling reach. Heading into these next 50 years, we should not look at evolving technology as a burden, but as an opportunity to grow and extend to new audiences.

Rachel Scott BA, JOURNALISM, ’15; CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, ABC NEWS

I want to scale up our family business, globally. At Annenberg, I’m able to take a progressive course like “Into the Metaverse: Theory, Practice and Challenges,” which is designed to future-proof us for careers that engage with interconnected immersive media. We learn foundational concepts and how to visualize something that might not happen for 5 to 10 years. I look forward to more such forwardlooking courses.

The mission of the school has never been more urgent and essential. There can be no disconnect between the practice of journalism and the study of communications, no inclination to distance craft from scholarship, because enlightening civil society requires exploring and illuminating the tools and ecospheres of information, misinformation and persuasion.

It has also never been

more important to provide context and perspective. With the same foresight that the school found common cause with disciplines like engineering in understanding and advancing the convergence of technology and media, it should make Annenberg a nexus of interdisciplinary study and research involving areas crucial to the future of our democracy and our planet — climate science, political science, economics,

While the skills associated with research and data collection may seem primarily numbers-focused, there is a significant amount of creativity that goes into the process as well. Knowing how to analyze data allows us to be more grounded in what consumers value and develop critical objective insights, making PR campaigns more impactful.

BA, PUBLIC RELATIONS, ’22; MASTER’S STUDENT, PUBLIC RELATIONS AND ADVERTISING

energy, urban planning, medicine, gerontology and more.

And the school should ensure that students are cognizant not only of current events but also of history, of which so much of the dislocation and conflict in today’s world is both a source and an echo.

’76;

Adelaida Severson

BA, BROADCAST JOURNALISM, ’87; PRESIDENT/OWNER, BUSHTEX, INC. Caitlin Barr

Siddhant Manish Chawla

MASTER’S STUDENT, DIGITAL SOCIAL MEDIA

It has always been, for me, factoring in the three R’s: Resourcefulness, resiliency, and building relationships. I’m adding relevance to that. Students have got to stay relevant by understanding new technology and coupling it with strong storytelling.

Kevin McKenna BA, Journalism,

Deputy Business Editor, The New York Times

THE INTERNET REALLY TRANSFORMED THE WAY BUSINESSES AND PEOPLE COMMUNICATE.

it’s been amazing to watch. We are on the verge of another transformation. This time, though, the difference is how we own our data, how we own our content and how we are going to value that in the future. It’s exciting to see what Annenberg will do.

There is room for improvement when it comes to innovation and having a social impact. Communication, grassroots democracy and policy shaping are areas where we can work and be of great impact, and preparing students for global leadership.

Yanyang Chu

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT;MAJORS: COMMUNICATION AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

The magic of USC Annenberg is not the technology, not the buildings. They’re wonderful and we love them, but the real magic is the interaction between the students and professors. And while we’re teaching the technology of the day, so long as they can tell a good story and tell it with accuracy, fairness and transparency, then it doesn’t matter what the technology of the future will be, they will be ready for the job they have to do.

Joe Saltzman Professor of Journalism

Anthony Borquez

MCG, COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT, ’07; FOUNDER AND CEO, GRAB; MEMBER, USC ANNENBERG BOARD OF COUNCILORS

And

Manuel Abud CEO, LATIN RECORDING ACADEMY; MEMBER, USC ANNENBERG BOARD OF COUNCILORS

Then

journalist.

Julie Chen Moonves BA, BROADCAST JOURNALISM,’91 AND BA, HUMANITIES (ENGLISH), ’91; HOST, BIG BROTHER, CBS

The most important thing Annenberg does is it instills in each student the skills, ethics and principles of journalism and of great storytelling. Anybody can be a creator or a storyteller because social media has democratized everything, but we still need the foundations of journalism and the fundamentals of reporting and investigation — and truth. I saw what a huge difference the work of Annenberg students

can make in my sophomore year when I worked with other students at Neon Tommy and covered the wide­ranging impact — including the death toll — of the swine flu in Los Angeles County. Our work on the H1N1 project put a face on the virus. Instead of looking at the flu’s victims as numbers, we looked at these people for who they were as people and told those stories. We must continue to instill in students the

responsibility that we have. We are the translators, the truth tellers and the decipherers of our time. The need to make sure that both sides are represented in a story is something that USC Annenberg has a unique opportunity to emphasize and to continue to reiterate in its teaching.

Schweitzer BA, Print and Digital Journalism, ’11; Head of Creator Programs, LinkedIn

Manuel Castells

UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR; WALLIS ANNENBERG CHAIR IN COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

I think where Annenberg needs to have impact in the decades to come is first and foremost teaching its students how to best use their medium of choice.

we need to remind them that their voice is powerful. How are you using your voice? Are you reporting facts? Are you talking to reliable sources? We have to continue to teach students what it means to be a responsible

I would love to see Annenberg be a major force in restoring trust and truth in today’s polluted environmental communication space. Misinformation is more pervasive than ever. Therefore, to actually challenge that, we need deep interdisciplinary knowledge necessary to counter it. My hope is that we will be a school that is never satisfied with itself because we have such a huge task ahead and we can never stop inventing and innovating.

Callie

My experience at ATVN was the most instrumental and illuminating process for discovering my sense of self and what kind of journalist I wanted to be. It helped me understand how our reporting can have such a huge impact.

Learning to ask difficult questions, hold powerful people to account, uncover underreported angles — these are the skills Annenberg instilled in me. I know the school will do the same for its students in the next 50 years and beyond.

Monica Alba BA, Broadcast Journalism, ’09; White House Correspondent , NBC News

What is being taught at Annenberg is inspiring the next generation to rethink and revitalize the field, infusing them with curiosity, conviction and the critical skills needed to thrive as journalists and communicators.

Paul Richardson

Winter

Peter

BA,INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, ’08 AND MPD, PUBLIC DIPLOMACY, ’10; DIPLOMAT AND SPOKESPERSON, U.S. EMBASSY CAIRO

WE THOUGHT SOCIAL MEDIA WOULD LEAD TO MORE TRANSPARENCY.

Instead, the flow of information is so diffuse, so unwieldy, that citizens — domestic and abroad — are struggling to determine what’s true. We must find ways to manage information to enhance democracy and a credible free press.

SENIOR EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER, THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY; MEMBER, USC ANNENBERG BOARD OF COUNCILORS

My entire adult life has been spent in the pursuit and defense of free speech and increasing political participation in the country. It is important to me that educational institutions offer multiple viewpoints and challenge students to grow and think critically as they step forward into life. I have been very pleased with Christina Bellantoni — the director of USC Annenberg’s Media Center — and what she has been able to do with the students. When she takes them on field trips across the country to caucuses or midterm primaries, they are exposed to both sides of an issue. Students are well trained in how to be critical thinkers. That type of fair and objective journalistic lens needs to continue into the next 50 years. If we do not keep free speech alive, we die.

In nuclear physics, 50 is a magic number. I know this because when I was a little girl growing up in Maryland, my mother worked in NASA’s laboratories on the Hubble Telescope, and her love for science fostered my own fascination. That’s how I came to know that 50 is a number of protons or neutrons that form complete shells within an atom’s nucleus. You might be wondering what the magic number 50 has to do with the future of USC Annenberg.

Well, the number 50 represents the element tin on the periodic table. Now

stay with me. I am one of our mobile journalism professors here and have dedicated my research to studying how cellphones change our world. Tin was chosen to serve as our smartphone’s core skeleton because it is durable and trustworthy. And for me, there is magic — quite literally — in one of the most important communication tools of our time. The same can be said of Annenberg. Whether our industry faces disinformation, mis information, eroding democracy or dwindling public trust, Annenberg can and will remain a

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Moon

MA, STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS, ’05; VICE PRESIDENT, EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS, LYFT

bastion of truth. To achieve this, we will need lots of energy, warmth, compassion and technological prowess. We will also need to focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and empathy. I believe we are up to these tasks, because at our core — at our atomic nucleus — Annenberg faculty, staff, students and alumni are enduring. We are excellent. And we are the stuff of magic.

Allissa V. Richardson Associate Professor of Journalism and Communication; Founding Director, Charlotta Bass Journalism & Justice Lab

VIDEO

FILM + TV LEGEND

Norman Lear, Chairman and CEO, Act III Communications; Member, USC Annenberg Board of Councilors

Sona Iliffe

Engaging and resonating with people will require integrity and emotional intelligence as a requisite for storytelling. We should curate cultural conversations and introduce curriculum around com

munity building and ethics.

R. Rebecca Donatelli

PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, CAMPAIGN SOLUTIONS; MEMBER, USC ANNENBERG BOARD OF COUNCILORS