Dean Ernest J. Wilson III described the USC Annenberg School’s recent additions, impending growth, and plans for the future in an in-depth PBS MediaShift Q-and-A on Jan. 18 with Mark Glaser. “What I feel really good about is building on this inherited combinations of different disciplines and professions and looking very hard for synergies and places where journalism and communication and public relations and strategic communication can work together,” Dean Wilson said. “That’s what gives me the greatest sense of satisfaction — that we’re well on the way to doing that. I’ll give you a couple examples: We’ve created the Innovation Lab, and we’re going to create what I call the Experimental School.”
Dean Wilson delivers three-day W.E.B. Du Bois Lecture Series on technology disparities at Harvard, Nov. 27-29, 2012
December 4, 2012 by
“The number of African-Americans and other people of color in positions of senior leadership and ownership of media properties is either stagnant or declining, ” Dean Wilson said. “We should care about this because we are citizens and these are matters of the life and death of democracy.” How would scholar, writer, editor and civil rights pioneer, W.E.B. Du Bois, the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University, react and think about this new digital divide?
American Academy of Arts and Sciences inducts Dean Wilson into its 232nd class of members
October 22, 2012 by
Dean Ernest J. Wilson III was among 185 influential artists, scientists, scholars, authors and institutional leaders who were inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at a ceremony in Cambridge, Mass. on Oct. 6, 2012. Read More »
Ernest J. Wilson III in Foreign Affairs article: “Silicon Valley Needs a Foreign Policy”
June 21, 2012 by
Dean Ernest J. Wilson III wrote a June 20 Foreign Affairs article stating that high-tech American companies need to develop their own foreign policy.
“Looking forward, the tech industry needs to come together and be more vocal, and the federal government, rather than waiting for tech-savvy Generation-Y staffers to rise to positions of authority, must now align the strengths of the nation’s economy with the nation’s foreign policy,” Dean Wilson wrote. “Otherwise, the very tools that the country has created and nurtured will wind up being deployed by other rising emerging powers. By the same token, the long-term benefits of a serious and sustained Silicon Valley foreign policy will be greater international competitiveness, a higher standard of living at home, and a United States able to inspire and lead in the information age.” Read More »
Ernest J. Wilson presents to Department of State on Diversity and Cultural Competence
June 7, 2012 by
Dean Ernest J. Wilson III delivered a keynote address to the U.S. Department of State on June 7 titled Diversity and Cultural Competence. He outlined several “next steps,” including making diversity a strategic priority as well as an HR priority, and hiring and empowering change agents. Read More »
Ernest J. Wilson III Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
April 17, 2012 by
USC faculty members Midori and Ernest J. Wilson III have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies.
“Dean Wilson and Distinguished Professor Midori continue to advance their respective fields with innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to ways of communicating – through new mediums of technology and through the beauty of a musical composition,” said USC provost and senior vice president for academic affairs Elizabeth Garrett. “Their work and dedication reflect the values of our academic community, and their election into this venerated academy celebrates great scholarship of consequence.” Read More »
The More Things Change, The More They Change (VIDEO)
April 16, 2012 by
As dean of the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, Dr. Ernest J. Wilson III is on the front line of changes wrought by the digital revolution. That’s why The Communications Network tapped his expertise three years ago for its report: “Come On In. The Water’s Fine. An Exploration of Web 2.0 Technology and Its Emerging Impact on Foundation Communications.”
Then, as now, Wilson believes the key to effectively navigating these changes is what he calls the capacity for “sustained innovation.” For foundation communication departments — forced daily to grapple with ever-shifting modes of communication — this capacity isn’t just nice to have. It’s imperative. “In such an environment,” Wilson writes in the Spring 2012 issue of strategy+business magazine, “creativity needn’t wait for the unpredictable ‘aha’ moment. It is continually nurtured.” Read More »
Annenberg Innovation Lab 2012 Innovation Summit Multi-sector Panel Discussion
April 2, 2012 by
This panel, moderated by Innovation Lab Director Jon Taplin, joined leaders from non-profits, corporations and academia to discuss innovation trends in urban spaces and participatory cultures. About the panelists: Paul Bricault – Co-founder/Managing Director of startup accelerator, Amplify.LA; Steven L. Canepa, General Manager Global Media and Entertainment, IBM; Amy Heibel – Associate VP of Technology and Digital Media at LACMA; James Ingraham – Vice President Strategic Research, EPB; Ernest J. Wilson III – Dean, USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism
Wilson on Castells
March 29, 2012 by
USC Professor Manuel Castells Honored With Prestigious Holberg International Memorial Prize
“Manuel Castells is the preeminent example of a scholar who is a committed teacher, devoted mentor, faculty leader and researcher who provides a deep and comprehensive understanding of how new communication breakthroughs impact our increasingly networked society,” said USC Annenberg Dean Ernest J. Wilson III. “We are honored to have Professor Castells as a colleague, and celebrate with him the recognition he so greatly deserves as the world’s leading communication scholar.”
The Holberg Prize was established by the Norwegian parliament in 2003. It, along with the Nils Klim Prize, is awarded annually by the Board of the Ludvig Holberg Memorial Fund. The main purpose of the prizes is to raise the status of the arts and humanities, social sciences, law and theology. The 2012 Holberg Prize will be awarded in Bergen, Norway, on June 6, 2012. More information is available here: www.holbergprisen.no Read More »
Wilson outlines what Innovation Clusters must do to foster economic growth
March 15, 2012 by
Dean Ernest J. Wilson III wrote an article for the Spring 2012 issue of strategy+business magazine about innovation clusters needing to draw on the power of an interrelated “quad” of sectors — public, private, civil and academic — to foster economic growth.
Dean Wilson referenced Washington Post columnist Vivek Wadhwa, who cited a study showing that most of the more than 1,600 Norwegian companies clustered in the five largest cities have failed.
“For the last 15 years, I have studied innovation clusters in more than a dozen countries,” Dean Wilson wrote. “My own research findings echo Wadhwa’s conclusion. Clusters can be vitally important to a country’s innovation and prosperity, but when they are misunderstood, they do not realize their potential. Most efforts to create clusters focus on one or two elements: the heroic innovators who champion their creation, the co-location of companies that lets engineers switch jobs by crossing the street, the business school spawning grounds with professors sympathetic to their students’ entrepreneurial ambitions, the startups with foosball tables in the conference rooms, or the provision of cash from an earnest government funder seeking to bypass bureaucratic roadblocks.” Read More »