2024 Commencement

Please visit our commencement page to watch the 2024 ceremony
and view the Class of 2024 Name Book

Apply Now for 2024

Fall 2024 On-Campus MSW Application FINAL Deadline: July 16, 2024

News Archive

Alumni

  • Marilyn Flynn, dean of the USC School of Social Work, has received the International Rhoda G. Sarnat Award for her efforts to advance the public image of professional social work.

  • Spring break: a time of year for college students to blow off some steam and kick back before the stress of finals arrives at the end of the school year.

    But some USC School of Social Work students, faculty and even alumni have made so much more of this traditionally carefree week.

  • The USC Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families is now offering online continuing education courses aimed at behavioral healthcare professionals.

    Partially funded by a $6.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, CIR’s continuing education classes are a part of its A Rapid and Revolutionary Response to the Needs of Wounded Warriors project, through which the center is developing a comprehensive, evidence-based curriculum designed to train therapists for working with servicemembers and their families.

  • USC School of Social Work Board of Councilor member Richard (Dick) Thor died on Dec. 18, 2011 at his home in Redondo Beach, Calif., after a battle with cancer. He was 80.

  • A delegation from the University of Southern California will visit academic, government and business leaders in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil this week to learn about national trends in higher education policy, build ties with top universities, corporations and policymakers, and reconnect with USC alumni across the country. 

  • Marilyn Flynn will stay on as dean of the USC School of Social Work for another five-year term, announced Elizabeth Garrett, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.

    Originally appointed in 1997, this latest term was offered by USC President C. L. Max Nikias after a fourth-year review of Flynn's leadership at the school. This included a survey sent to full- and part-time faculty, staff and students, as well as the Board of Councilors and community members.

  •  

    For 15 years during the 1960s and 70s, Frances Wu helped delinquent children work through personal problems. But she later discovered another group in need.

  • "I have been accused unjustly," 8-year-old Laura Newman said firmly.

    The year was 1951, and Laura was at Beverly Vista Elementary School, where students participated in an exercise that allowed them to put notes in a "citizenship box" if they felt somebody did something wrong. Once a week, the notes were read aloud and if anyone felt they were wrongly blamed, the student would stand up and exclaim, "I have been accused unjustly."

  •     

    As a child, Mariko Yamada, MSW '74, remembers standing up for underrepresented students who would get picked on at her public elementary school. Now, 50 years later, she is still fighting for vulnerable populations as the newly elected assemblywoman representing California's 8th Assembly District.

  • When her daughter was diagnosed with cancer eight years ago, Paula Berke wasn't sure what to do or where to turn for support. She was living in California, and her daughter was in Tennessee. So Berke packed her bags and went to Nashville, not knowing what she would find once she got there.

    Little did she know that her daughter would find the help they both needed and the inspiration for Berke's own way to help those touched by cancer.