USC Media and Public Relations

The New York Times highlighted the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll, which found that 44 percent of California voters oppose Proposition 32, an initiative affecting fundraising by unions and corporations. Another 36 percent supported it, and 19 percent were undecided. Los Angeles Times cited the poll, which found that Proposition 34 — which would end the death penalty in California — is losing 38 percent to 51 percent. The poll was also covered by KQED-FM.

The New York Times highlighted a study by Lee Epstein of the USC Gould School and a colleague on the Supreme Court’s decisions from 1946 to 2011. They found that the John Roberts court was the most conservative one since the 1930s. The story also cited a study by Epstein and colleague on the justices’ political ideologies.

CNN ran an op-ed by Ron Avi Astor of the USC School of Social Work on how the two presidential candidates would support military families. “With all the public celebration of military families on the campaign trail, this lack of proposals for new resources or a detailed plan of how federal agencies will coordinate the integration of returning troops seems like a violation of our nation’s promise and its social contract with the millions of brave warriors and their families,” Astor wrote.

Forbes highlighted a theory of employee skill sets developed by Morgan McCall of the USC Marshall School. McCall’s model looks at the life experience employees have gone through in determining whether they’ve developed skills. According to this model, interviewers should focus more on applicants’ experiences than on stellar resumes.

Slate highlighted “Moral Origins: The Evolution of Virtue, Altruism and Shame” by Christopher Boehm of the USC Dornsife College. Boehm, director of the Jane Goodall Research Center at USC, thinks the evolution of altruism can be understood by looking at the moral rules of hunter-gatherer societies. “There are two ways of trying to create a good life. One is by punishing evil, and the other is by actively promoting virtue,” he wrote.

The Wall Street Journal cited “The Music of James Bond” by Jon Burlingame of the USC Thornton School.

The Washington Post, in an Associated Press story, quoted Karen Tongson of the USC Dornsife College on the evolving role of women in the James Bond series.

CBS News interviewed Dan Schnur of the USC Dornsife College about candidate Mitt Romney’s goals for the first presidential debate. The Denver Post quoted Schnur about President Obama’s strategy for the debate. NPR News also cited Schnur.

Associated Press quoted Elyn Saks of the USC Gould School about the effects of schizophrenia.

Public Radio International’s “The World” interviewed Philip Seib of the USC Annenberg School, author of “The Al Jazeera Effect,” about the news channel’s growth.

Inside Higher Ed reported that Jerome Lucido of the USC Rossier School will be part of a Webinar on an Inside Higher Ed survey of admissions directors.

Los Angeles Times reported that USC Thornton School student Anthony Lucca won the Angel City Jazz Festival’s young artist competition, and will perform at the event.

Reuters ran a photo of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at the first symposium of the USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy. The Sacramento Bee mentioned the institute.

Reuters mentioned that the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation endowed a chair at the USC Viterbi School last year to support engineering and medicine research.

Hispanic Business quoted Sherry Bebitch Jeffe of the USC Price School about the new USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy.

Los Angeles mentioned that in 1929 the Academy of Motion Pictures partnered with USC to create its first film school, now the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

NPR News San Francisco affiliate KALW-FM cited the USC U.S.-China Institute as a resource on the subject of China’s economy.

KCET-TV ran video of activist Oscar Zeta Acosta reading excerpts from his novels at the 1971 Festival de Flor Y Canto at USC.