Next Steps on Leadership Transition – School of Architecture

Dear USC School of Architecture Community,

We appreciate your nominations and feedback as we prepare our search for the next dean of the USC School of Architecture. Thanks to your contributions, we have begun to assemble the Search Advisory Committee. This committee will be co-chaired by Dana Goldman, Dean of the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, and Ginger Clark, Professor of Clinical Education at the Rossier School of Education, Director of the USC Center for Excellence in Teaching, and Associate Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs. Please join me in thanking them for their service.

As the search begins, we are appointing Willow Bay, Dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, as interim dean. Besides her long history of leadership at Annenberg, her guidance of the Iovine and Young Academy during the transition between permanent deans for that school provided invaluable experience. We know she will work closely and collaboratively with you during this period, and we are grateful for her service to the university.

The committee will help us recruit the best candidate for the future of the USC School of Architecture, who will provide visionary leadership as the school shapes urban spaces, explores sustainable design, constructs our inclusive future, and much more. The forthcoming position description will provide a complete profile of our ideal candidate.

As the search gets underway, we will follow the same procedures that have been observed in past dean searches. The committee will review nominations, conduct interviews, and advise me on finalists. Those who are asked to interview the final candidates will be invited to send their comments regarding the strengths and possible weaknesses of these candidates to me confidentially. To assist us, we have engaged the executive search firm Education Executives and their consultant Ilene Nagel.

In our follow-up, we will share the search advisory committee roster and will provide additional information about how you can submit your nominations and input. You will soon be able to follow updates at our dean search website available at the following link.

Thank you for your contributions to the process so far. Your collaboration in support of the USC School of Architecture as we work together to find our next dean is vital and deeply appreciated. This is an important search for our campuses, and we will locate and hire the best candidate. We will keep you informed of our progress.


Sincerely,

Charles F. Zukoski
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs