Dear Liberal Arts Community,

As graduation approaches, we are excited to announce the name of this year’s School of Liberal Arts Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. Established in 2021, this award recognizes some of our most illustrious alumni and alumnae for career achievements, distinction in the arts, and/or their work in promoting positive social change. The honoree is presented the award at the School of Liberal Arts graduation ceremony, during which they deliver an address to the class.

I am thrilled to announce that Elizabeth M. Daley is the 2023 winner of this award.

Daley is a legendary leader in higher education, the Dean of the School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) at the University of Southern California, and has been a truly transformative and innovative, academic leader.   

Daley graduated from the Newcomb Department of Theatre in 1965 and holds both B.A. and M.A. degrees in Theatre from Tulane. She went on to earn her Ph.D. in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin. In her 30 years as Dean of the SCA—the longest tenure of a dean at USC—she has built the top film school in the country. 

She is the trailblazer responsible for developing a film production curriculum continually on the forefront of new technologies and the ever-changing landscape of narrative storytelling. She has strengthened SCA’s international profile through expansion of its academic programs, including the addition of cutting-edge research labs; oversight of the construction of a new, state-of-the-art campus, anchored by buildings named by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg; and strengthened collaborations with industry partners both domestically and globally. 

Under Daley’s oversight, SCA has added three new divisions: Animation and Digital Arts, Interactive Media and Games, and Media Arts + Practice; established the Entertainment Technology Center, a think tank focused on the impact of new technologies; built the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts; established 33 endowed faculty positions; and formed successful partnerships with a variety of entertainment and technology companies—including all major movie studios.

Daley is the inaugural holder of the Steven J. Ross/Time Warner Dean’s Chair, 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. She is also a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

More personally, Dean Daley, whom I met early in my own tenure as Dean of the School of Liberal Arts, has become a mentor and informal advisor of mine, and each time I am in Los Angeles, I visit her at USC. I am thrilled to be able to welcome her back home to Tulane to receive this award.

Daley will deliver remarks to the Liberal Arts Class of 2023 at our Commencement ceremony on Friday, May 19, at 8 am in Yulman Stadium. Please join me in celebrating Elizabeth M. Daley as the third recipient of this distinguished award.

Brian Edwards | Dean and Professor