IDEAS IN ACTION | USC's Podcast Series

Thousands of new homes and businesses will be built to replace the ones that were incinerated by the Los Angeles County fires this month. If done properly, the rebuilding could create more resilient communities. However, if done poorly the structures will be tomorrow’s fire fuel. Join a panel of experts to learn the right — and wrong — ways to rebuild L.A.

The panelists are: 

Christopher Boone, USC Price Dean and Director of USC Ur...

Authors and creators will discuss the role of TV in society historically and today, including connections to politics, queer spectatorship, and representations of race, class, and gender.

David Craig is a Clinical Professor of Communication and director of the Global Media and Communication program at USC. An expert in Hollywood, Chinese, and social media industries; a television historian; an Emmy-nomin...

A diverse panel of experts will shed light on how individuals and communities have stood against oppression and persecution during World War II, the civil rights movement, and in struggles for social justice today.

Wolf Gruner is the Shapell-Guerin Chair in Jewish Studies, a professor of History, and Founding Director of the Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research at USC. He is an appointed member...

Panelists will offer a wide array of perspectives on acting, scenic design, playwriting, diversity in theatre, theatrical institutions, and possibilities for a more equitable and inclusive theatre world.

Sharon Marie Carnicke, author of Dynamic Acting through Active Analysis and Stanislavsky in Focus, is an internationally acclaimed expert on acting for stage and screen. Her award-winning translations of...

Award-winning scholars on Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism will discuss the role of religion in public settings and spaces and the relationships between religion and culture, politics, and identity.

Sherman Jackson is the King Faisal Chair of Islamic Thought and Culture and professor of Religion and American Studies and Ethnicity at USC. He focuses on pre-modern Islamic law and theology with an emphasis...

From California's wine country to the Panama Canal to Owen's Lake and the LA River, this provocative panel will explore placemaking and the land that we share, looking at issues related to labor, race, gender, sustainability, and more.

Joan Flores-Villalobos is an assistant professor of History at USC whose work focuses on histories of gender, race, and diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean. Her fi...

The new book Dis...Miss Gender? features a bold mix of photographs and short essays in which artists, writers, and theorists celebrate the rapidly evolving world of gender. The book's editor and several contributors will discuss intersectionality, queer thought, fourth-wave feminism, and more. 

Tiffany E. Barber is a prize-winning, internationally-recognized scholar, curator, and critic whose work focuse...

Authors, artists, and activists will share how film, music, public art, and other art practices can help build communities and imagine new futures.

Ben Caldwell is an arts educator, independent filmmaker, and creator of the KAOS Network, whose goal is to be the bridge that connects South LA communities with the new technology of the 21st century as a vanguard in all the art forms. Caldwell is the co-auth...

Since 9/11, Muslims have occupied the U.S. public and political spheres as threats to national security, as victims of hate crimes, as targets of torture and war, and as a community to be included in diversity initiatives. This insightful panel will explore Muslim inclusion and representation in a variety of contexts, including education, politics, and the entertainment industry.

• Shafi...

In light of the growing divisions among Americans, this panel will address the intersection of culture and politics in society, how we can better understand divisiveness, and find common ground.

• Geoffrey Cowan is an award-winning writer, television producer, and University Professor and Annenberg Family Chair in Communication Leadership at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and...

Comedy can be seen and experienced in many forms—onstage, on screens, and even in hospitals. Like laughter, its effects are contagious and its power spills over onto all of us. This panel of experts, comedians, and expert comedians will talk about the history of comedy and its potential to create change.

• Wayne Federman is a stand-up comic, actor, author, comedy writer, professor, and E...

California, the nation’s leader in clean energy and climate policies, has set an ambitious goal to achieve net zero carbon pollution by 2045. But what will it take? How might the policies affect the availability, reliability, and price of power consumption? This panel will address the political, technological, economic, as well as human and societal factors that play into our energy system and explore what must do to achieve our en...

Increasing rents and home prices, gentrification, and historic inequities have contributed to a major housing crisis in Los Angeles. Yet, L.A. has a rich residential legacy that includes innovative housing design, successful housing developments, and leadership in historical preservation. Panelists will draw upon their interrelated recent books on housing, architecture, and preservation to offer compelling approaches to help addres...

Academics, artists, and authors will have a wide-ranging conversation exploring gender, sexuality, queerness, and the body in art, culture, fashion, and society. Topics will include, but not be limited to, an inside look at being a professional dominatrix, queer performance art and theory, and fabulousness as resistance.

• Chris Belcher is a writer, professor, book coach, and assistant professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies a...

This discussion will explore a wide range of immigrant stories and experiences, including Vietnamese refugee girlhood, community-building for Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles, and the role of Black migrant women’s labor in the construction of the Panama Canal.

• Lan Duong is associate professor in Cinema and Media Studies at USC. She is the author of Treacherous Subjects: Gender, Culture, and Trans-Vietnamese Feminism and co-wr...

This panel will include a variety of perspectives on neurodiversity and developmental disabilities, from autism to schizophrenia. Experts will share their research as well as personal experiences and discuss how to support neurodiverse children and adults and create a more equitable and inclusive society.

• Sneha Kohli Mathur is the author of Understanding the Lived Experiences of Autistic Adults and a lecturer of Applied Behavi...

Access to safe drinking water is a pressing global issue, with approximately 2 billion people currently lacking consistent access to this fundamental resource — a sobering statistic that is projected to soar to 5 billion by 2050. We caught up with researchers Wändi Bruine de Bruin, a Provost Professor of public policy, psychology and behavioral science at the USC Price School of Public Policy and the Department of Psychology at the...

María P. Aranda is a professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, the executive director of the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging and the director of the outreach, recruitment and engagement core of the USC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. She holds a joint appointment with the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and is a psychotherapist with over 30 years of experience providing mental health servi...

The Colorado River is in crisis. Once hailed the "American Nile," the river stretches 1,450 miles and provides drinking water, irrigation, and hydroelectric power to nearly 40 million people across seven states and northern Mexico. But after decades of prolonged drought and overuse, vital reservoirs along the river are drying up. USC experts Robin Craig and Shon Hiatt discuss the far-reaching impacts of Colorado River water shortag...