As the University of Southern California prepares for its 139th commencement ceremony on Friday, May 13, 2022, the USC Libraries are celebrating the intellectual and creative achievements of the USC community through several events.
On Wednesday, May 11, at 1:30 p.m., the Phi Kappa Phi initiation ceremony will honor the newest members of the university's oldest fully interdisciplinary honor society. Professor Alex Capron of the USC Gould School of Law—who has just announced as the recipient of the 2022-24 Phi Kappa Phi Scholar Award, a national honor—will deliver the keynote address. The libraries serve as the administrative home to the USC chapter of Phi Kappa Phi.
The following morning, at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 12, the libraries host the USC Sidney Harman Academy for Polymathic Study induction ceremony. Founded in 2011 within the USC Libraries, the academy encourages integrated interdisciplinary investigation through encounters with eminent scholars, artists and professional practitioners. Each year, it inducts new fellows—students, faculty, and other participants—who have completed a required series of meetings over the course of their academic tenure at USC.
Later that afternoon at 3 p.m., Leavey Library hosts the Wall of Scholars ceremony. Created by the Skull and Dagger Society in 1995, the Wall of Scholars honors students who have been awarded a national or international scholarship or have earned certain USC academic accolades. Provost Charles F. Zukoski will join Dean Catherine Quinlan and Skull and Dagger Society president Jerry Papazian in celebrating the most recent cohort of USC graduates whose names will be etched onto the Wall of Scholars in the library's Weingart Reading Room.
And finally on Friday, May 13, at 2 p.m. the libraries join with the USC Marshall School of Business in celebrating the most recent graduates of USC's Master of Management in Library and Information Science (MMLIS) program at the MMLIS commencement celebration. American Library Association president Patty Wong will be the keynote speaker. The MMLIS program is a joint venture of the libraries and USC Marshall.