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Resident Faculty
The USC Resident Faculty program originated in the late 1970s. Since that time,
41 faculty and upper level administrators have served in these esteemed positions
Below is a brief description of each of our resident faculty programs, a general
overview of the vision of the program, and a description of each faculty member's
role and qualifications.
Resident Faculty Programs
The Resident Faculty program involves special living units within university housing
where selected students, staff and faculty members live together in an academic
community. In each program the faculty member serves as mentor, advisor, friend
and facilitator to lead the development of an academic focus for the community in
partnership with the Residential Education staff.
Faculty Member's Role
Resident Faculty work with Residential Education staff to develop an academic residential
community. The faculty member is expected to initiate, sponsor and support a wide
range of formal and informal educational activities in addition to encouraging other
faculty to participate actively in the program. The common element in successful
programs is a sincere interest in students and a commitment to linking the residential
experience with the academic purpose of the university.
North Area
Thomas Gustafson (Birnkrant)
Associate Professor, English and American Studies and Ethnicity
Thomas Gustafson received his Ph.D. in English from Stanford University. He researches
American Studies and rhetoric, particularly the 18th and 19th centuries. His research
specialties include Colonial and 19th century American literature, American political
discourse, and literature of the American West. In 1990 he received the USC Raubenheimer
Outstanding Junior Faculty Award.
Edwin McCann (North)
Professor, Philosophy and English
Edwin McCann is professor of Philosophy and English. He received a B.A. in philosophy
from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1971 and a Ph.D. in philosophy
from the University of Pennsylvania in 1975. From 1975 to 1978 he was assistant
professor of philosophy at Harvard University, and from 1978 to 1983 he was assistant
professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at M.I.T. He joined the
USC faculty in 1983. He has also been a visiting professor at UCLA, UC Irvine, Claremont
Graduate University and, most recently, Harvard University in 2000–1 and UC Berkeley
in 2004–5. He has served as director of the School of Philosophy from 1997–2000,
and as president of the Academic Senate in 2003–4.
McCann teaches a wide variety of courses in the School of Philosophy, and has also
taught regularly in the Thematic Option program and the Core Multimedia program.
He has received several honors for teaching, including the USC Associates Award
for Excellence in Teaching.
McCann’s main research focus is the history of 17th and 18th century philosophy,
particularly the connections between philosophy and science in this period. This
includes such figures as Galileo, Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Boyle, Locke, Newton,
Berkeley, Hume and Kant. He is also very much interested in the philosophy of Wittgenstein
and in contemporary philosophy of mind and action.
Stan Rosen (New)
Professor, Political Science
"I'm the Faculty Master at New Residential College and this is my 8th year in this
particular program. Among the things I do are to have off campus dinners at different
ethnic food restaurants (for example, Chinese, Italian, Indian, and French so far
this academic year), to have students over to my apartment to watch films or events
such as the Academy Awards or football games, and to go to films or jazz clubs (although
we haven't gone as often this year as in past years). On Thursday nights we have
our special dinners in a side room at EVK, often with musical entertainment."
"Our biggest event every year is the organization of the Ed Wood Film Festival in
which teams of students from the entire campus have 24 hours to make a film on a
theme we give them the day before. The following week we have a public screening
at Norris Cinema Theater and award trophies and prizes to the winners. This year
we had 55 teams enter and were able to show 36 films that made the cut. We had around
500 people attend the screenings, so we had to have simultaneous showings in Norris
and in Lucas 108."
Stanley Rosen is a specialist on Politics in the People's Republic of China, Asian
Politics, Comparative Politics, Politics and Social Change, and Chinese Film. Since
1998 he has served as the faculty master of new Residential College, and has been
honored with teaching awards from Pi Sigma Alpha, Mortar Board, the International
Student Assembly, and the Department's 1998-99 Award for Outstanding Classroom Teaching
and Dedication to Students. Dr. Rosen joined the USC faculty in 1979.
Dr. Rosen is currently working (with David Zweig) on a book-length study on students
and scholars who have studied abroad and returned to China, and an edited book on
state and society (with Peter Gries). In addition, he is investigating the attitudes,
behavior, and position of youth in post-Mao China. Another project focuses on Hollywood's
relationship with China and its influence on the future of the Chinese film industry.
South Area
Scott Smith (Pardee Tower)
Associate Professor, Writing Program
Scott Smith received his Ph.D in American Literature from Kent State University.
His research interests include Men's Studies, Masculinity, Body Issues, Disability,
American Literature (Puritan, 19th Century Poetry, Beats).
East Area
Judith Jackson Fossett (Annenberg)
Assistant Professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity
Director African American Studies Program
"One of the most significant contributions I provide to the Annenberg community
is my family: my husband Clayton Fossett who works in Strategic Marketing at Yahoo
and our newly-turned seven-year-old daughter Alden who is in first grade, loves
sports, board games and reading.
Our Faculty Residence is a Common Room for the building; my family's living room
is the building's living room. We brought all our own furniture with us so encourage
residents to make themselves at home when they visit.
I am a pretty good cook so we try to have home cooked meals whenever possible. Clayton
and I host Master's Sunday Suppers every year during which every resident is invited
to a special dinner at our home. We also host receptions, barbecues, cookie and
sundae study breaks, etc. We make good use of our beautiful lawn outside, one of
the prettiest green spaces on campus.
We have conversations about what happens after college ends; how to negotiate myriad
interests, using the examples of our own careers (culinary school, investment banking,
lobbying, non-profit fundraising, business and graduate schools as examples). In
addition, we coordinate with our partner and next-door neighbor, the Annenberg Center
for Communication, who funds our computer lab, to bring speakers and issues of interest
concerning technology to residents."
Judith Jackson Fossett received her Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1999. Her
areas of interest are African-American studies (specifically literature and culture),
American literature and culture (19th and 20th centuries), literature and culture
of the American South, and the history of slavery in the Americas.
Stephanie Mielke (Century)
Instructor, Occupational Therapy
Stephanie Mielke, MA, OTR/L is a Clinical Instructor for the Department of Occupational
Science and Occupational Therapy. She and her husband, Ryan, have called Centennial
Apartments (aka the "OT House") their home now for three years and are true members
of the Trojan Family (never missing a home football game or GRUF tailgate party).
They are the proud parents of Teddy, a one-and-a-half year old dynamo who is the
sweetheart and clown of the building.
Stephanie relishes her role as the residential faculty advisor and seeks to help
her residents bridge the gap between the academic and social worlds of USC. She
is always ready to give advice, share insights, or provide a different perspective
on difficult situations. She loves animals and outdoors and any hobby which combines
these factors, such as riding her horse "Mac" through Griffith Park and hiking with
her dogs, "Barkley" and "Lucy".
Stephanie and Ryan enjoy spending time with the extended family of their residence
hall in a variety of activities from attending local plays and movies to playing
board and card games in their living room. They also oversee an ongoing, weekly
community service program which is the culmination of a mutually rewarding partnership
between the residents of Centennial and the homeless women at a nearby shelter
Julie Albright (Founders)
Lecturer, Sociology
Dr. Julie Albright is a trusted expert in the media for stories related to popular
culture, social aspects of the Internet, sex, gender, relationships and plastic
surgery. She has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington
Post, Los Angeles Times, MSNBC.com, CNN.com, USA Today, and many others, and has
appeared on 20/20, CBS 2 News, NBC News, and radio programs including NPR and Austrian
National Radio. Dr. Albright holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and Marriage and Family
Therapy from the University of Southern California, and is currently a lecturer
there in the Dept. of Sociology, and is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.
Her specialization is the intersection of gender, relationships, sexuality and technology;
she has extensively researched relationships on the Internet. She is a research
consultant for eHarmony, one of the largest online matchmaking services, and is
currently writing several journal articles related to sex, relationships, flirting
and dating. She is also an assistant producer for the documentary film Made Over
In America and recently authored a journal article on plastic surgery makeover television
shows called "Impossible Bodies."
Sue Lemme (Hillview)
Sue Lemme is the Co-Director of the Pacific AIDS Education and Training Program
at the Keck School of Medicine.
Jim Moore (Honors House)
Professor - Industrial & Systems Engineering; Public Policy and Management; Civil
Engineering
Prof. Moore received his BS degrees in Industrial Engineering and Urban Planning
in 1981 from Northwestern University's Technological Institute (now the McCormick
School of Engineering and Applied Science) in Evanston, Illinois. He received his
MS degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University in 1982, his Master
of Urban and Regional Planning degree from Northwestern in 1983, and his Ph.D. degree
in Civil Engineering (Infrastructure Planning and Management) from Stanford in 1986.
He specializes in transportation engineering, transportation systems, and other
infrastructure systems. He joined Northwestern's Civil Engineering faculty in 1986,
and the faculty of the University of Southern California in 1988. He is Director
of the Transportation Engineering program, Co-Director of the Construction Management
Program, and Chair of the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems
Engineering in USC's Viterbi School of Engineering. In 2003, he was elected to the
Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, United States Section, for out-standing contributions
to the field of Transportation Systems Engineering; and received the Kapitsa Gold
Medal of Honor.
Prof. Moore's research interests include risk management of infrastructure networks
subject to natural hazards and terrorist threats; economic impact modeling; transportation
network performance and control; large scale computational models of metropolitan
land use/transport systems, especially in California; evaluation of new technologies;
and infrastructure investment and pricing policies.
Daniel Lynch (Sierra)
Professor, International Relations
Daniel C. Lynch is Associate Professor of International Relations at the University
of Southern California. He is the author of Rising China and Asian Democratization:
Socialization to "Global Culture" in the Political Transformations of Thailand,
China, and Taiwan (Stanford University Press, 2006). He is also the author of After
the Propaganda State: Media, Politics, and "Thought Work" in Reformed China (Stanford
University Press, 1999); and his articles that have appeared in International Studies
Quarterly, Pacific Affairs, the China Quarterly, and Asian Survey. He obtained his
Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) in 1996.
Professor Lynch became Faculty Resident of Sierra Apartments in August 2005. He
convenes his residents for weekly or bi-weekly pizza-and-discussion dinners in an
event known famously as the "Sierra Salon." Recent discussion topics have included
international computer hacking, paying medical bills for the homeless, and the firing
of Harvard's president. Three or four times per term, Professor Lynch also takes
residents out for dinner and live jazz at some of LA's leading jazz venues.
Parkside
Kyung Moon Hwang (Parkside Arts and Humanities Residential College)
Associate Professor, History
My research in general traces the transformation, especially into the modern era,
of long-term historical patterns in Korea. Questions of modernity, comparative history,
and historical memory interest me in particular. I always attempt to situate the
significance of specific events and phenomena in the larger scope of historical
development. I am currently working on a monographical study of the origins, meaning,
and concept of the modern state in Korea. My other major project is to write a general
history of Korea employing an episodic narrative approach. This work is under contract
with Palgrave-Macmillan and is scheduled to be published in 2010. My teaching spans
the entirety of Korean history, with courses ranging from a general survey to specialized
upper-level courses focusing on specific themes. I also teach courses occasionally
in East Asian and world history.
Priya Jaikumar (Parkside Arts and Humanities Residential College)
Associate Professor, School of Cinematic Arts
Priya Jaikumar brings her interest in colonial and transnational cultural formations
to the range of graduate seminars and undergraduate courses she teaches at the Division
of Critical Studies. These include seminars on postcolonial theory and cinema; on
the national / regional cinemas of Britain and India; graduate surveys on international
sound film; film aesthetics; and globalization in the media.
Jaikumar's research has focused on the problem of interpreting historical change
in cultural industries and aesthetic forms, in particular the break from colonial
relations dominating the nexus of Britain, India and the dominions. Her book Cinema
at the End of Empire: A Politics of Transition in Britain and India challenges the
rubric of national cinema dominant in film studies, to detail the intertwined film
histories of a declining empire and a nascent nation. Her scholarly work on questions
of state power, cultural regulation, film form and feminism has also appeared in
Cinema Journal, The Moving Image, Post Script, Screen, World Literature Today, and
in recent anthologies such as Hollywood Abroad and Transnational Feminist Encounters
In Film and Media. Currently, she is working on architecture, photography and cinema
in the colonial context.
Angus Fletcher (Parkside Arts and Humanities Residential College)
Assistant Professor, Theatre
Angus Fletcher specializes in theatre history, particularly Shakespeare and the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His research focuses on the impact of theatre
upon political science, psychology, ethics, and even biology. He has published nearly
a dozen articles in journals such as Modern Philology, English Literary History,
Studies in English Literature, and The Journal of the History of Ideas. His most
recent article, forthcoming from Comparative Literature, argues that Machiavelli’s
theory of democracy is indebted to his fascination with the slaves of Roman comedy.
He is also working on a book entitled The Ethics of Doubt: Skepticism, Tragedy,
and Community in the Age of Hamlet. His research has been supported by grants from
the Huntington, the Clark Memorial Library, the Beinecke, and the Bodleian.
Angus received his PhD from Yale and taught for three years at Stanford before coming
to USC. He has received teaching awards from all three institutions. In addition
to lectures on theatre history, he also teaches upper-level seminars on dramaturgy
and script analysis.
Since coming to USC, Angus has become interested in the potential of theatrical
approaches to plot and narrative to enrich cinema and television. He has mentored
several undergraduate collaborations between the School of Theatre and the School
of Cinematic Arts, and this summer, he received a Panavision grant to shoot a small
feature film on the experience of U.S. aircrews serving in Saudi Arabia.
Nicholas Weller (Parkside International Residential College – Apartments)
Assistant Professor, Political Science and International Relations
Professor Weller is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science
and School of International Relations. Weller employs laboratory experiments and
empirical studies to study how information and communication affect decision making.
He is currently using experimental methods to study how information networks affect
both individual behavior and a group’s ability to solve collective action problems.
In a separate research project he is studying the how different types of information
affect the reputation of political consultants, and how consultants and political
candidates decide to work together. He has also written about the diffusion of state
Tax and Expenditures Limits among U.S. states, the role of political parties in
U.S. trade legislation, and the relationship between state capacity and income taxation.
He has a B.A. from Rice University and a Ph.D. from the University of California,
San Diego.
Oliver Mayer (Parkside International Residential College)
Associate Professor, Dramatic Writing
My wife Marlene and I are honored to be the new Resident Faculty Masters at PIRC.
This will be our fifth year in residence life, having lived for two years off campus
at the Founders Apartments, and the last two years at the Parkside Arts and Humanities
Residential College. Marlene is an actress and I am a playwright; we have devoted
our lives to the arts. We strongly believe in the power and opportunity of living
alongside students, and of offering them chances to meet new people, take part in
fun and exciting events, and essentially grow as individuals. We have grown so much
in our time at USC, working alongside so many fine colleagues among faculty, staff
and administration, and now it is our great pleasure to represent international
life and studies, both on campus and off. We are so looking forward to this year,
and beyond.
Oliver Mayer is the author of two new world premiere plays, LAWS OF SYMPATHY and
DIAS Y FLORES. Other plays include BLADE TO THE HEAT, YOUNG VALIANT, CONJUNTO, RAGGED
TIME, JOE LOUIS BLUES , JOY OF THE DESOLATE, THE ROAD TO LOS ANGELES, BANANAS AND
PEACHFUZZ, BOLD AS LOVE, THE RIGHTING MOMENT, and ROCIO! A PESAR DE TODO. He wrote
the libretto for AMERICA TROPICAL, a new opera composed by David Conte. He has written
films on latino icons Carlos Gardel and Adan Sanchez.
Oliver is Associate Professor of Dramatic Writing at the USC School of Theatre. He is
a graduate of Cornell and Columbia Universities, and attended Worcester College,
Oxford. His literary archive can be accessed through Stanford University Libraries.
THE HURT BUSINESS: A CRITICAL PORTFOLIO OF THE EARLY WORKS OF OLIVER MAYER, PLUS,
is published by Hyperbole Books. OLIVER MAYER: COLLECTED WORKS is published by NoPassport
Press. His most recent publication is a chapter on playwriting in CREATIVE WRITING
GUIDEBOOK, published by Continuum Books. In addition, Oliver has been the recipient
of a USC Zumberge Grant and a Mellon Faculty Mentoring Undergraduates Award.
Ellie Nezami (Parkside International Residential College)
Professor, Health Promotion & Disease Prevention Studies
Dr. Nezami's research focuses on determinants of behavioral risk factors for chronic
diseases, cancer and cardiovascular disease in particular. Risk factors of primary
interest are tobacco use, physical activity and nutritional practices. Her other
research projects include examination of personality characteristics (hostility,
anger, aggression) in relation to cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Nezami's current research focuses on the self-medication theory of smoking.
In particular, she is studying the relationship between depression and smoking in
different cultures. Dr. Nezami is the principal investigator of a Transdisciplinary
Tobacco Use Research Center (TTURC) project studying self-medication and smoking
in the U.S., China and Iran. Dr. Nezami received her M.A. in Clinical Psychology
from the University of Houston and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University
of Southern California.
Ricardo Ramirez (Parkside International Residential College)
Professor, Political Science; American Studies and Ethnicity
Ricardo Ramírez is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science
and the Program in American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern
California. His research interests include state and local politics, political behavior,
and the politics of race and ethnicity, especially as they relate to participation,
mobilization, and political incorporation.
His writings include co-authoring "Are Naturalized Voters Driving the California
Latino Electorate? Measuring the Impact of IRCA Citizens on Latino Voting" (with
M. Barreto and N. Woods), "Citizens by Choice, Voters by Necessity: Patterns in
Political Mobilization by Naturalized Latinos," (with A. Pantoja and G. Segura),
"Latino Political Incorporation in California, 1990-2000" (with L. Fraga), and "Unquestioned
Influence: Latinos and the 2000 Election in California" (with L. Fraga and G. Segura).
He is currently writing a book: "Continuity and Change: Latinos in American Politics
Since 1990." His current projects include field experiments on the effects of elite
mobilization efforts of Latino voters and on the role of gender and ethnicity on
career paths in state legislatures since 1990.
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