Melissa Mansfield
Melissa Mansfield, a senior majoring in psychology, is doing her part to make a lasting impact on how students learn at USC.
As the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) director for academic affairs, Mansfield leads several efforts to build students’ brainpower. Fresh from a successful resuscitation of the Quiz Bowl (last year’s was canceled due to low turnout; this year more than 30 teams participated), Mansfield is currently spearheading a much-needed overhaul of the USG Course Guide.
“We’re trying to elicit more productive information, so students can better evaluate what courses to take,” she says of the site, which allows students to voice their opinions about professors and courses.
She hopes to make the resource more reliable by moving it to a USC server and adding a log-in feature. Mansfield says she enjoys collaborating with the Academic Senate on the update. “It’s important to involve faculty,” she says. “The Academic Senate has been very supportive.”
Mansfield also has her sights set on making sure USC’s libraries meet everyone’s needs — and that students realize it. “It took me until my junior year to figure everything out,” says Mansfield, who is working closely with library directors to prevent this from happening to others.
But it’s not all books for Mansfield. The senior is also the executive director of Songfest, USC’s annual musical competition. Last year’s event was a huge success, packing Bovard Auditorium and raising more than $22,000 for Troy Camp. Mansfield says she’s especially going to miss working on Songfest when she graduates, but wants to go out with a bang. “Coming off last year, I only hope to make this year’s that much better.”
Mansfield, who is a Delta Gamma and member of President Steven Sample’s and Warren Bennis’ esteemed leadership class, isn’t daunted by her packed schedule. “I like staying busy,” she says. “And I love working with people who care about the university.”
According to Matthew Heins, the USG chief of staff, Mansfield is incredibly driven and has devoted her time at USC to making the school better. “She’s making our degrees more valuable by working with the faculty and trying to improve academic life at USC,” he says.