Elizabeth M. Daley

Elizabeth Daley was appointed dean of the USC School of Cinematic Arts in May 1991. She is the inaugural holder of the Steven J. Ross/Time Warner Dean’s Chair. Daley was also the founding executive director of the USC Annenberg Center for Communication (1994-2005) and serves as the executive director of the USC Institute for Multimedia Literacy.

Since becoming dean, Daley has strengthened the school’s academic programs, infrastructure and ties with the entertainment industry and media arts community. Under her leadership, the school has added two new divisions in animation & digital arts and interactive media, built the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, installed 14 endowed chairs and formed successful partnerships with a variety of entertainment and technology companies. On Oct. 4, 2006, Daley presided over the official creation of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and broke ground for the school’s new complex. The first two buildings of the complex, which comprise some 137,000 square feet of production, teaching and administrative space, opened on Jan. 12, 2009. Four additional structures, including a Media Arts & Administration building, sound stages and a production equipment center, opened in 2010.

Daley also serves on the boards of AVID Technologies, the Benton Foundation, the Center for Governmental Studies, the Digital Coast Roundtable, Operation Smile Board of Governors, the Visual Effects Society Advisory Council, Fondazione Azzurra, the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts and the Warner Brothers Historical Foundation, as well as advisory boards at USC for KUSC Radio and the Institute for Creative Technologies.

Daley earned a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin and M.A. and B.A. degrees from Tulane University and Newcomb College.