USC Associates Faculty Awards
Since the group’s founding, members of the USC Associates have supported awards for faculty at the University of Southern California — recognizing outstanding teachers as “the heart of a university and the essential element of our future greatness.” Faculty awards were the highlight of the annual USC Associates dinners from 1960 until 1982, when President Zumberge and the Academic Senate inaugurated the university’s Academic Honors Convocation. Since that time, the USC Associates faculty awards — the highest honors the university bestows upon its faculty — have been conferred on this occasion.
Winners of the USC Associates faculty awards for 2013 are:
USC Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching
Yehuda Gilad
Associate Professor of Winds and Percussion
Guest Conductor, USC Thornton Chamber Orchestra
USC Thornton School of Music
Yehuda Gilad is one of the world’s premier clarinet teachers. He has produced outstanding young musicians who regularly earn auditions with the leading orchestras of Asia, Europe, and the United States. His students and former students have won every international competition and have gone on to teach at prestigious universities worldwide. In addition to having spent countless hours developing their music skills, he is devoted to cultivating his students’ self-confidence and remains a primary mentor for them throughout their lives. His dedication is a hallmark of his teaching, and his students often return for “tune-ups” prior to major auditions.
Among his many contributions to the university, Professor Gilad was music director of the USC Thornton Chamber Orchestra for a decade. During this time, the orchestra became known for its exceptional quality throughout Southern California.
Hailed as one of today’s most dynamic and charismatic conductors, he has received critical acclaim throughout the world. He has guest conducted across the globe and is regularly invited to teach master classes and clinics worldwide and to sit on juries for international music competitions. He is the music director of the Colburn Orchestra and was the conductor and music director of the Colonial Symphony of New Jersey. He also served as music director of the Santa Monica Symphony and the 20th Century Unlimited concert series in Santa Fe.
Professor Gilad has earned numerous accolades, including the Distinguished Teacher Award from the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars, and for his service as music director of the Malibu Music Festival, he received the highest proclamation from both the county and city of Los Angeles.
For his stellar teaching and passionate commitment to music education, the University of Southern California is pleased to honor Yehuda Gilad with the USC Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching.
John P. Walsh
Associate Professor of Gerontology
USC Davis School of Gerontology
A dedicated instructor and educational innovator, John Walsh has been a valued member of the USC community for over two decades. He recognized early in his career that he needed to make science entertaining in order to hold students’ attention. He capitalized on the multimedia revolution, realizing that it offered an opportunity to further his connection to students and to develop cutting-edge instructional tools and methods. He has received numerous awards for these efforts, including grants from USC and the National Science Foundation, as well as the USC Provost’s Prize for Teaching with Technology.
Professor Walsh’s students esteem him for his enthusiasm, kindness, approachability, and easy-going style, and his stellar reputation attracts students not only to his classes, but also to his movement disorders laboratory. Nearly 30 undergraduate students have worked in his lab, with many winning prestigious fellowship awards that propelled them into flourishing careers in science and medicine.
With a specialty in neuroscience and aging, Professor Walsh instructs his students in the science and research they need to enhance society and improve the human condition. Tirelessly, he emphasizes the importance of understanding and embracing life’s phases and diversity, and enlists human behavior and brain function in that effort. He has touched the lives of countless students, advancing their scientific knowledge and preparing them for success in the professional world.
For his inspired teaching and enduring contributions to undergraduate and graduate education, the University of Southern California is pleased to honor John Walsh with the USC Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching.
To learn about some of the past winners of the USC Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching, please click here.
USC Associates Award for Creativity in Research and Scholarship
The Associates Awards for Creativity in Research are the highest honors the university faculty can bestow on its members for distinguished intellectual and artistic achievements.
Creativity in research includes the written publication of ideas, artistic creation, and artistic performance. Creativity may stem from a single brilliant idea or from a significant body of work that forms a coherent whole. Creativity in research leads to major impacts on a discipline, on the interface between different disciplines, or on the creation of viable new areas of scholarly inquiry.
Yves De Clerck
Professor of Pediatrics
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Keck School of Medicine
De Clerck is an outstanding scientist and medical doctor who is a pioneer and a leading investigator in the areas of tumor and microenvironment. He has been funded through the National Institutes of Health and published more than 110 scientific peer-reviewed manuscripts. Over 25 years of studying the interactions between tumor cells and their microenvironment, De Clerck was the first to discover a novel inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase and its involvement in tumor invasion and growth. His contribution in the area of tumor microenvironment resulted in his election to chair of the American Association for Cancer Research Tumor Microenvironment Working Group.
In 2010, De Clerck received a five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute to establish a research center studying drug resistance in pediatric cancer. The center is one of 11 tumor microenvironment centers in the United States.
De Clerck has served on the faculty for more than 30 years at USC including 15 years as director of the Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He is currently a professor of pediatrics, biochemistry and molecular biology at the Keck School of Medicine.
Peter C. Mancall
Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities
Vice Dean for the Humanities
Professor of History and Anthropology
Director, USC – Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute
USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Peter Mancall has established himself as one of the world’s leading scholars of the early modern era in trans-Atlantic contexts. He is an historian of early America, early modern Atlantic world, and early Native American history. In addition to serving as Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities and professor of history and anthropology, Mancall has been chair of the department of history and associate vice provost for research. He is currently vice dean for the humanities in the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
Mancall is known for writing books that are both academically important and accessible to the public. His work includes eight written and eleven edited books and various journal articles.
His books on Hakluyt and Henry Hudson are excellent examples of his talents, displaying painstaking research, compelling narrative skill, and analytical insights.
As director of the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute, Mancall has forged an academic partnership that has greatly expanded USC’s reputation for important scholarly research in the humanities.
To learn about some of the past winners of the USC Associates Award for Creativity in Research and Scholarship, please click here.
