“I see this new position as a tremendous
opportunity,” Starr said.
Photo credit: Philip Channing
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Dean of USC College Announced
Peter Starr to lead the College as university sets out on national search for permanent replacement
By Eva Emerson and Wayne Lewis
June 2006
On June 20, USC Provost C.L. Max Nikias announced that Peter Starr,
professor of French and comparative literature, has been appointed dean
of USC College on an interim basis, effective July 1.
Starr, who has served as dean of undergraduate programs in the College
since July 2005, will succeed linguist Joseph Aoun, the 19th dean of
the College and the inaugural holder of the Anna H. Bing Dean’s Chair.
Aoun will leave USC in August to become president of Northeastern University in Boston.
Starr will lead the College until USC President Steven B. Sample
appoints Aoun’s permanent successor. A search committee appointed by
the provost will lead a nationwide recruitment effort to fill the post.
“President Sample’s appointment of Peter Starr reflects how committed
USC is to sustaining the dramatic growth of the College, which
functions as the beating heart of USC,” Nikias said. “Professor Starr
is an outstanding scholar and an accomplished administrator who has
spent the past year working tirelessly to further improve the quality
of undergraduate instruction across the College.”
As dean of undergraduate programs, Starr oversaw the College’s offices
of admission, advising, general education and honors programs, among
others. A member of Aoun’s leadership team, he was involved in much of
the College decision-making for the past year.
“I see this new position as a tremendous opportunity,” Starr said. “We
have a terrific team, and I’ve already become familiar with the scope
of the College’s research and teaching missions.”
Under Starr, the College’s undergraduate programs office established
the College Honors Society and, in partnership with the Institute for
Multimedia Literacy and faculty members, created a slate of
technology-literate fall course offerings as part of the new Core
Multimedia program.
Starr recently published
Commemorating Trauma (Fordham University
Press, 2006), a study of the cultural impacts of the political unrest
in Paris of 1870-71.
An avid cyclist and guitarist, Starr has been active in administration
and university service for many years. He has chaired the department of
comparative literature and the French and Italian department, served as
president of the College Faculty Council and spent two terms on the
executive board of the Academic Senate. He is a Faculty Fellow in the
Center for Excellence in Teaching.
Starr joined the USC College faculty in 1985. Born and raised near
Philadelphia, he attended Stanford University and graduated Phi Beta
Kappa with a bachelor’s in humanities. He earned a master’s in French
and a doctorate in comparative literature from Johns Hopkins University.
Starr plans to continue the momentum established under Aoun’s administration.
“Peter, along with his fellow deans, has done a magnificent job this
past year,” Aoun said. “He has impressed me with his enthusiasm and
vision for undergraduate programs, and I have great confidence that,
under his guidance, the College will continue on its upward path.”
Said Starr, “Much of our agenda will be to consolidate the gains the
College has already made under the inspired leadership of Dean Aoun.
We’ll continue pushing in the direction we’ve been moving.”
Starr plans to continue strengthening College research and graduate
initiatives. By summer’s end, he expects to wrap up the Senior Faculty
Hiring Initiative, which Aoun began four years ago. The $100-million
initiative to bring 100 world-class senior faculty members to the
College has recruited 96 professors to date. “We’re also halfway
through a capital campaign, so that will remain an area of intense
focus,” Starr added.
Asked what attracted him to seek out administrative positions at USC,
Starr grinned. “Conceptually, I find university administration very
interesting. It’s a puzzle to solve – how do you take a complex
organization and move it decisively forward? I think that’s
fascinating.”
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