How the USC Libraries Are Celebrating Students’ Academic Achievements This Week

Events and Exhibitions

The University of Southern California holds its 133rd annual commencement ceremony on Friday, May 13, and this week the USC Libraries host several events to celebrate the academic achievements of USC's students:

  • Phi Kappa Phi initiates. Commencement season kicks off at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 11, with the Phi Kappa Phi (PKP) initiation ceremony at the Bing Theater. USC Shoah Foundation executive director Stephen D. Smith will deliver the keynote address. The USC Chapter of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, which makes its administrative home at the USC Libraries, is the university's oldest fully interdisciplinary honor society.
  • Academy for Polymathic Study fellows. The USC Sidney Harman Academy for Polymathic Study inducts 25 new fellows on Thursday, May 12, at 10:00 a.m. The ceremony takes place in the academy's quarters in Doheny Memorial Library, Room 241.
  • Wall of Scholars honorees. A ceremony inside Leavey Library at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 12, recognizes the USC graduates whose names will be etched onto the Wall of Scholars in the library's Weingart Reading Room. 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.
  • Master of Management in Library and Information Science graduates. The USC Libraries toast the graduates of USC's Master of Management in Library and Information Science (MMLIS) program on Friday, May 13, at 1:30 p.m. These students represent the program's second graduating class; the libraries partnered with the USC Marshall School of Business to launch the MMLIS program in 2013.

In addition, this summer the libraries—in partnership with PKP, the USC School of Social Work, and the Undergraduate Writers Conference—are publishing USC's 2016 Outstanding Academic Papers by Students (OAPS) anthology. And as always, the historic Doheny Memorial Library provides the backdrop for the university's main commencement ceremony, which begins at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, May 13, in Alumni Park.

Image: USC's 1954 commencement ceremony, courtesy of the USC University Archives.