Search for the New Dean of USC Libraries

To: USC Libraries Faculty and Staff

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

Date: August 30, 2022

Subject: Search for the New Leader of USC Libraries


I am pleased to announce that we have appointed a search advisory committee to identify and recruit the next leader to guide the USC Libraries. The search advisory committee is being co-chaired by Amber Miller, Dean of USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and Ishwar K. Puri, Vice President of Research. The complete roster follows this memo.

This committee is assembled to help us select the very best candidate for the USC Libraries. The libraries actively support the discovery, creation, and preservation of knowledge. Through the development of collections and services, libraries actively encourage and strengthen the academic endeavors of faculty, students, and staff.

In addition, the libraries build a community of critical consumers of information and help develop engaged world citizens, while expanding the libraries’ reach and impact beyond USC.

We will provide an opportunity for community input in a survey prior to creating the candidate profile.

As the process moves forward, we will follow the same procedures that have been observed in other 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 directly and confidentially.

To assist us in this important search, we have engaged the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller; David Bellshaw is our primary consultant. You will be invited to attend open forums with finalists, and encouraged to share your thoughts, which you will be able to submit confidentially. We will keep you informed of progress. You can also follow updates at our search website.

Thank you for your participation and support of the USC Libraries as we work together to seek our next leader who will actively advance our academic excellence and global leadership.

cc: Amber Miller, Anna H. Bing Dean, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Ishwar Puri, Vice President of Research

USC Libraries
Leader Search Advisory Committee

Co-chair: Amber Miller, Anna H. Bing Dean, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Co-chair: Ishwar Puri, Vice President of Research

Daniela Bleichmar, Professor of Art History

William ‘Bill’ Deverell, Professor of History and Spatial Sciences

Tyson Gaskill, Executive Director, Planning and Communications, USC Libraries Exhibitions & Programming

Deborah Holmes-Wong, Director, Digital Library and Associate University Librarian

Carl Kesselman, Dean’s Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Computer Science, and Preventive Medicine

Rory Kim, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Co-Director of International Summer Program

Oliver Jai’Sen Mayer, Professor in Dramatic Writing, Associate Dean of Faculty & Strategic Initiatives, Director of MFA Dramatic Writing Program

Linda Truong, Senior Director, Information Technology, USC Libraries

Chimene Tucker, Communication, Journalism and LGBT Studies Librarian, Library of International & Public Affairs

Christal Young, Associate University Librarian