Barbara J. Solomon Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity

Solomon served as USC’s vice provost for faculty affairs and minority affairs from 1993 to 1998 and as vice provost for graduate studies and dean of the Graduate School from 1988 to 1993. She was named a full professor in 1977.

Before joining the USC faculty in 1966, Solomon was an adoptions worker with the California State Department of Social Welfare and a clinical social worker at the Veterans Administration hospitals in Los Angeles and Houston.

The first African American ever to hold a deanship at USC, Solomon is frequently credited with leading efforts over the years to make the university more responsive to its neighboring communities and to make its staff and students more reflective of Southern California’s ethnic diversity.

She earned her doctorate in social work from USC in 1966, her M.S.W. in social welfare from UC Berkeley in 1956, and her B.S. degree in psychology magna cum laude from Howard University in 1954.

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