USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences is the heart of the University of Southern California. The largest, oldest and most diverse of USC’s 19 schools, USC Dornsife is composed of more than 30 departments and dozens of research centers and institutes. USC Dornsife is home to approximately 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students and more than 750 faculty members with expertise across a spectrum of academic fields.
Our frontline scholars are working to find solutions to society’s toughest challenges by advancing human health, preserving and improving our environment, and strengthening our communities. Together, we are defining scholarship of consequence for the 21st century.
Zen Dochterman, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
A range of films spanning different eras confronts viewers with the same question: ‘What if all that hard work isn’t really worth it?’
This Russian short-range cruise missile, the Iskander-K, can carry nuclear warheads for several hundred miles.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP
Tactical nuclear weapons were designed to be used on the battlefield rather than for strategic defense, but that doesn’t mean there’s a plausible case for using them.
Ada Limón is the 24th U.S. poet laureate.
Shawn Miller/Library of Congress
Amy Cannon, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Ada Limón is the first woman of Mexican ancestry to be named U.S. poet laureate. Through her understanding of social media and the power of connection, she strives to make poetry accessible to everyone.
Book-banning campaigns often misrepresent how young readers consume and process literature.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
Trisha Tucker, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The US is seeing more campaigns to ‘protect’ children by barring controversial books. But research shows children’s reading experiences are complex and unpredictable, explains a literature professor.
A man reads an Iranian newspaper with a headline in Farsi that says, ‘The night of the end of the JCPOA,’ or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images
A nuclear nonproliferation expert explains why Iran was always unlikely to return to the 2015 international agreement that limited its nuclear weapon development.
Jewish deportees march through the German town of Würzburg to the railroad station on April 25, 1942.
US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration
Wolf Gruner, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Holocaust scholars long relied on documents and survivor testimonies to help reconstruct the history of that tragic event. Now, they’re turning to wordless witnesses to learn more: pictures.
Donald Trump is under federal investigation for mishandling classified documents.
Aquir
Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
What are classified documents? Who gets to see them? What happens if they are released?
Many people attribute their coffee drinking to the need to feel more alert, but research shows that habit is just as big a driver behind caffeine consumption.
Westend61/Getty Images
Asaf Mazar, University of Pennsylvania and Wendy Wood, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Understanding and changing the environment in which habits form is a critical step when it comes to breaking unwanted behaviors and forming healthy ones.
President Ronald Reagan, shown here speaking in Moscow in 1980, was an early adopter of neoliberalism in the U.S.
Dirck Halstead/Liaison
Anthony Kammas, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The word ‘neoliberal’ gets thrown around a lot, often with differing and even contradictory meanings. Here, a political economist explains the origins and evolution of this complex concept.
The U.S. BRAIN Initiative seeks to elucidate the connection between brain structure and function.
Science Photo Library - PASIEKA/Brand X Pictures via Getty Images
From figuring out where memories are stored to how sensory information translates to behavior, new technologies are helping neuroscientists better understand how the brain works.
Research shows that grandparents’ involvement in their grandchildren’s lives plays a critically important role in a child’s overall health and development.
Mayur Kakade/Moment via Getty Images
Models shows that some 4 million people in the US have lost a grandparent to COVID-19. But until now, there has been a dearth of research into the mental health effects of losing a grandparent.
Joe Biden, then-Vice President meets with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 2011.
AP Photo/Hassan Ammar
Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Joe Biden is set to make his first visit as president to the Middle East, during which he will meet the Saudi crown prince the US accuses of ordering the murder of a journalist.
Image of Earth’s city lights, created with data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program.
NASA/Newsmakers via Getty Images
Matthew E. Kahn, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
A 1972 report warned that unchecked consumption could crater the world economy by 2100. Fifty years and much debate later, can humanity innovate quickly enough to avoid that fate?
When a person loses a loved one to COVID-19, the mental health effects can be severe.
Ol'ga Efimova / EyeEm via Getty Images
COVID-19 deaths tend to be more unexpected and traumatic than other types of deaths. A sociologist explains the mental health burdens facing the millions who’ve lost a relative to the coronavirus.
A mural in Kyiv depicts the Virgin Mary cradling a U.S.-made anti-tank weapon, a Javelin, which is considered a symbol of Ukraine’s defense against Russia.
AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
Steven Lamy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Sandwiched between Russia and NATO ally Norway, both Sweden and Finland have maintained neutrality in global conflicts. That changed in February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.
Greenhouse gases emitted today linger in the atmosphere for years to centuries.
David McNew/Getty Images
Julien Emile-Geay, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Thanks to humans, the concentration of planet-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now 50% higher than before the industrial era. These gases are raising Earth’s temperature.
The current Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority.
Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States
Adrian De Leon, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Bongbong Marcos is the projected winner of the Philippines election. That the son of a brutal dictator has won shows how wedded the country is to dynastic politics – and image manipulation.
Dana and David Dornsife Professor of Psychology and Director of the Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences