Each year, USC programs and faculty research are highlighted in print, broadcast and online stories throughout the world. Highlights of recent news coverage are compiled by USC Media Relations.
USC in the News 10/18/2012
Los Angeles Times ran an obituary for David A. Peterson, former director of the USC Davis School and professor emeritus. Peterson, an expert on adult education and learning, directed the USC Davis School from 1978 to 2003. He guided development of the school’s degree programs, including the nation’s first doctorate in gerontology. Peterson helped create national guidelines and standards for the field and served as a consultant to other colleges and universities setting up their own gerontology programs. “It’s a great loss to gerontology because he played such an important part in developing the knowledge base in the field,” said Edward Schneider, dean emeritus of the USC Davis School.
Los Angeles Times ran an op-ed by K.C. Cole of the USC Annenberg School about people’s tendency to see what they expect to see, which influences expectations regarding who fulfills CEO roles. “Having default assumptions doesn’t make us bad, just human,” Cole wrote. “We can’t get rid of them entirely. But we can recognize how they skew our judgment and take steps to mitigate the problem and even correct for it, just as you correct when you know your car pulls to the right.”
Time ran a Q&A with Ron Avi Astor of the USC School of Social Work about a divide between U.S. society and American military families. Astor said that the continuing sacrifices of military families are often unrecognized. “Unfortunately, if you walked through our major cities and most public schools or universities, you may not know our country has been at war for more than a decade,” he said. Astor noted that USC created a master’s program that trains social work professionals for work in military-connected public schools.
The New Republic ran a book review by Jacob Soll of the USC Dornsife College of “Double Entry: How the Merchants of Venice Created Modern Finance” by Jane Gleeson-White. The book is a history of “the father of accounting,” Luca Pacioli. “The story of accounting should, at this moment of economic crisis, give a sense of the passion, glory, and pitfalls of this seemingly banal practice,” Soll wrote.
The Huffington Post ran a column by Kathleen Reardon of the USC Marshall School about Mitt Romney’s “binders full of women” comment during the second presidential debate. The awkward phrasing was insulting, if anything, Reardon wrote. Romney didn’t “provide a single sliver of a clue about what he’ll do to change the fact that women make in the area of 72 cents for every dollar made by men doing comparable work,” she added.
Los Angeles Times quoted David Carter of the USC Marshall School about cyclist Lance Armstrong’s endorsement relationship with Nike. Agence France-Presse also quoted Carter.
Los Angeles Times cited the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll finding that Proposition 32 doesn’t have enough support to pass.
MyNetworkTV Los Angeles affiliate KCOP-TV covered USC’s participation in the Great California ShakeOut drill, which educates people on what to do in case of an earthquake.