IDEAS IN ACTION | USC's Podcast Series

About IDEAS IN ACTION | USC's Podcast Series

IDEAS IN ACTION is a podcast series produced by the University of Southern California. Aligned with the university mission dedicated to "the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit," the series brings you thought-provoking conversations across various disciplines, happening at USC's University Park and Health Sciences campuses today. Recordings are available on this website, as well as on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Publisher

University of Southern California

Category

education · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

20 Jul 2018

Latest episode

4 Sept 2025

Latest episodes

75 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   4 Sept 2025

   The Power and Possibilities of AI

   Discoveries in AI are changing our present and shaping our future. Experts from a range of fields will discuss their research, the societal implications of AI, and how they are using AI to do groundbreaking and changemaking work in everything from education to healthcare. Stephen J. Aguilar Melinda Chang Swabha Swayamdipta Shrikanth Narayana (moderator)

2. 

   30 Jan 2025

   Reconstruction Revival: How to Rebuild L.A.

   Thousands of new homes and businesses will be built to replace the ones that were incinerated by the Los Angeles County fires this month. If done properly, the rebuilding could create more resilient communities. However, if done poorly the structures will be tomorrow’s fire fuel. Join a panel of experts to learn the right — and wrong — ways to rebuild L.A. The panelists are: Christopher Boone, USC Price Dean and Director of USC Urban Futures. Santina Contreras, USC Price Assistant Professor of Environmental Planning. Richard Green, Chair, USC Price Wilbur H. Smith III Department of Real Estate Development. William Deverell, Historian and Co-Director of The West on Fire. With the moderator, Sarah Pilla, Climate Reporter for Spectrum News 1.

3. 

   21 Jan 2025

   Screen Time: Television, Society, and Identity

   Authors and creators will discuss the role of TV in society historically and today, including connections to politics, queer spectatorship, and representations of race, class, and gender. David Craig is a Clinical Professor of Communication and director of the Global Media and Communication program at USC. An expert in Hollywood, Chinese, and social media industries; a television historian; an Emmy-nominated producer and television executive; and a pioneer in the field of Creator Studies at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, his most recent books is Apocalypse Television How The Day After Helped End the Cold War. Anthony Sparks is showrunner, head writer, and executive producer of the TV drama, Queen Sugar, created by Ava DuVernay and executive produced by Oprah Winfrey and writer/producer for the Iron Mike series on Hulu. A former cast member of Broadway hit STOMP, he holds three degrees from USC (BFA, MA, and Ph.D.), where he studied Theatre, Film, Anthropology, and American History. Karen Tongson is the author of Normporn: Queer Viewers and the TV That Soothes Us, Why Karen Carpenter Matters (one of Pitchfork's best music books of 2019), and Relocations: Queer Suburban Imaginaries. In 2019, she was awarded Lambda Literary's Jeanne Cordova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction. She directs the Mellon-funded Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race, and Public Culture at USC, where she is also Chair and professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies and professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity. Moderator: Tara McPherson is the HMH Foundation Endowed Professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and director of the Sidney Harman Academy for Polymathic Study. She is author of Feminist in a Software Lab and Reconstructing Dixie, co-editor of Hop on Pop and Transmedia Frictions, and editor of Digital Youth, Innovation and the Unexpected. She was founding editor of the pioneering multimedia journal Vectors and the lead PI of the online platform Scalar. She has received funding from the Mellon, Ford, Annenberg, and MacArthur foundations, as well as from the NEH.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.0 / 5

11 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 41 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

52

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

75