Real-World Learning
Real-World Learning
Over its 100-year history, Marshall has forged deep ties with dynamic companies and business leaders, not only in southern California, but across the country and all around the world, creating unlimited opportunities for its students across a broad range of industries.
USC Marshall integrates its core curriculum with a spectrum of hands-on learning opportunities so that our students can take what they learn in the classroom and apply it to the real world, in real time. In the process, they learn more about themselves, the dynamics of teams, and the broader societal context in which business operates. Learning by doing prepares Marshall graduates to be immediately ready to thrive and excel in the workplace.
Turning Ideas Into Outcomes
More than 94 percent of MBAs found employment within three months of graduation, with nearly half landing at tech, media and entertainment companies like Google, Amazon, Disney and NBCUniversal. Investments in new career resources at the undergraduate level helped 97 percent of Marshall undergrads land jobs.
INSTITUTES + CENTERS
Marshall’s Institutes and Centers are thought leaders generating research and insights for the classroom and the real world right now.
The Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab is a Center of Excellence at the USC Marshall School of Business building an ecosystem of students and professionals equipped with the business skills and resources to advance market-based approaches to pressing societal issues. Through education, community building, research, professional development, and narrative change, the Lab is a nucleus for social impact at Marshall, USC, and beyond.
The mission of the Center for Investment Studies is to enable students to acquire experiential learning in investment management, to support faculty in conducting research, and to facilitate industry practitioner interactions with faculty and students.
At the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, students learn a mindset that sets them apart and better positions them to make a positive difference in the world. This mindset is about much more than just founders and founding processes. It is about adaptable, flexible thinking; assessing and managing risk in dynamic, uncertain environments; and finding and pursuing new opportunities.
The Peter Arkley Institute for Risk Management educates the next generation of risk management leaders for an increasingly complex and interconnected business environment. A curriculum focused on stimulating critical thinking and sharpening analytical skills equips students to meet the risk challenges of tomorrow.
Born out of a collaboration with the Southern California risk management industry, the Institute emphasizes professional development through internships, mentorships, and networking events.
The USC Marshall Randall R. Kendrick Global Supply Chain Institute (Kendrick GSCI) exists to help predict, mitigate, and alleviate supply chain disruptions and risks. We are capitalizing upon our global network, industry experience, and renowned faculty, through Network, Education, and Advanced Research (NEAR).
The Rise of Risk Management
As managing risk has become a core component of business strategy, USC Marshall’s Arkley Institute for Risk Management is introducing a new generation of future business leaders to the field through education, mentorship, and jobs.
NEWS + EVENTS
“Culture is the immune system of an organization ... if you can’t respect certain values, then it’s very difficult to create an atmosphere that is actually positive and generates return.”
— Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
“In today’s world, if CEOs don’t have insatiable curiosity, if you’re not back in school every day, you’re going to fall behind.”
— Indra Nooyi, Former CEO of PepsiCo and Author of My Life in Full
“Every step along the way with disruptive innovation there’s a whack-a-mole period when there’s yet another reason not to believe in something.”
— Cathie Wood '81, Founder and CEO, Ark Invest
“Increasingly on issues like climate or migration or the future of technology and development of artificial intelligence, people in business are taking stock of what their role is in solving bigger societal problems.”
— Ben Rhodes, Former Deputy National Security Advisor, Strategic Communications, Obama Administration
Marshall Increases Faculty Diversity
New appointments feature women and professors from under-represented groups.
“These are impressive numbers. It’s showing that our strategy is working. But we have a long way to go yet.”
— Sha Yang, Vice Dean for Faculty & Academic Affairs and Ernest Hahn Professor of Marketing
Emerging Leaders Program
This fall the Emerging Leaders Program convened 19 undergraduate students from USC and several HBCUs — Howard, North Carolina A&T State, Prairie View A&M, and the University of Texas at El Paso — to learn about risk management careers.
Marshall Pathways Program (MPP)
Janaiya Hodges transferred to Marshall as a sophomore through the Pathways Program and is looking forward to her internship this summer at PwC in its ESG practice. The Pathways Program assists underrepresented Black undergraduate students to successfully transfer to USC Marshall.
Career Advantage Program (CAP)
Every Marshall undergraduate today knows about the Career Advantage Program (CAP), which pairs students with mentors in a field that interests them. Clint Sallee '94 co-founded this program in 1997, just three years after he graduated, so that students would feel better prepared to transition from college to their professional lives.
Sustainability@Marshall
DEMO Day 2022
A Hub of Creators and Creation: Troy Labs' Demo Day 2022
Student founders shine bright at annual pitch competition held at Tutor Campus Center April 20, 2022.
The Music you Love
L.A. Entrepreneur Launches Private Affordable Housing Fund
A recent case study from USC Marshall’s Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab highlights a scalable approach to solving the housing crisis.
REAL-WORLD PROGRAMS
“I created GEMS because I think a lot of learning obviously happens in class, but a lot of it also happens outside the classroom. The goal is to help propel our students toward meaningful and impactful future careers.”
“I created GEMS because I think a lot of learning obviously happens in class, but a lot of it also happens outside the classroom. The goal is to help propel our students toward meaningful and impactful future careers.”
— Michael Paranal MBT '06, Assistant Professor of Clinical Accounting
Undergraduate Investment Fund
The Undergraduate Student Investment Fund (USIF) is a primary function of the Marshall School of Business capstone Investment Management course, “Advanced Practicum in Portfolio Management.” It is designed to give students rigorous exposure to contemporary investment and portfolio theory and practice.
Global Leadership Program (GLP)
The Global Leadership Program (GLP) is an invitation-only year-long Freshman Leadership Seminar with opportunities for social activities, networking, advising, and a trip to Shanghai or Beijing during spring break.
The GLP is a groundbreaking program open by invitation only to the most academically talented students in each incoming freshmen class. GLP consists of a fall and spring course, BUAD 101 Freshman Leadership Seminar, as well as outside opportunities for social activities, networking, and advising. The experience is capped off with a visit to Shanghai or Beijing during spring break. During the trip, students meet with executives from some of the top companies in Asia and local and national government officials. In their latter years, GLP Alumni have the opportunity to plan events and mentor younger students while continuing to travel abroad to learn about the global impact of business.
Robert J. Coury Applied Leadership Program
The Robert J. Coury Applied Leadership Program is a program designed to encourage confidence, character, and courage in first-year undergraduate students within the Marshall School of Business. First-year students participate in two highly interactive seminars and skill-building cohort meetings throughout the spring semester in an effort to identify and develop their strengths and values as leaders. The program culminates in a leadership capstone experience led by students from the Marshall Masters of Business for Veterans program. Program sessions are facilitated by experienced Marshall faculty, staff, and Student Mentors.
Accounting for Good
Our society has come to exhibit and expect expanded responsibilities from all types of organizations, ranging from hiring and compensation disparities to homelessness and global warming. This is the reason sustainability reporting has become important. Two of our most distinguished professors, Patty DeChow and Richard Sloan, are not only creating new accounting courses on the impact of companies on the environment and society. But their research and advocacy will also help define both how companies will audit performance in the future and how the SEC will regulate them in the brave new world of ESG. But their research and advocacy will also help define both how companies will audit performance in the future and how the SEC will regulate them in the brave new world of ESG.
Case Competitions
The USC Marshall School of Business produces graduates who are well prepared to make significant contributions to the workforce. Participation in case competitions is both an honor and a supreme challenge where participants prepare to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing business environment.
Career Advantage Mentor Program (CAP)
The Career Advantage Program (CAP) is offered through the Marshall Undergraduate Career Services Office and provides Marshall undergraduate sophomore, junior and senior-level majors the opportunity to be paired with Marshall alumni and friends of the university. The CAP mentor will assist their mentees in developing the professional, interpersonal and networking skills critical to their career success for the entire 2022-2023 academic year.
Peer Career Advising Program
The Peer Career Advising program prepares students for recruitment across multiple functions such as investment banking, consulting, marketing, corporate finance and operations. PCAs provide valuable mentorship to freshmen, sophomores, and juniors by holding advising sessions, hosting workshops, and planning/executing other programs.
JOINT DEGREES
Joint Degrees
USC Marshall has taken the lead in creating innovative new joint-degree programs that leverage the IP of University of Southern California schools like the top-ranked Viterbi School of Engineering and the renowned School of Cinematic Arts. More partnerships are on the horizon, as Marshall continues to offer undergraduates an educational experience designed to meet student interest and marketplace demand.
BS Business of Cinematic Arts (BCA)
Students in the John H. Mitchell Business of Cinematic Arts Program (BCA) earn a joint degree recognized by the Marshall School of Business and the School of Cinematic Arts. Program-specific courses, internships, and networking give BCA students the competitive edge as business leaders in the entertainment industry.
BS Artificial Intelligence for Business (BUAI)
In partnership with the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, the AI for Business joint-degree program brings together the expertise of two of the top business and engineering schools in the country to create a new generation of technically-savvy business leaders.