Elizabeth Daley

Dean, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California

Elizabeth Daley holds the Steven J. Ross/Time Warner Dean’s Chair in the USC School of Cinematic Arts. She was the founding executive director of the USC Annenberg Center for Communication and serves as executive director of the USC Institute for Multimedia Literacy.

Before coming to USC in 1989 as chair of the Film and Television Production Program, Daley served as director of the film and television subsidiary of the Mark Taper Forum and was a producer for MGM/Television. She also has been an independent producer and media consultant, and serves on the board of directors of AVID Technologies, as well as a number of non-profit boards.

Daley earned a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Tulane University and Newcomb College. She has received a number of awards, including the Alfred Hitchcock Legacy Award, given on behalf of the Hitchcock Family and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She was twice nominated for a Los Angeles Area Emmy Award.

In 2006, Daley presided over the official renaming of the USC School of Cinema and Television as the School of Cinematic Arts by George Lucas. Since then a new complex has been built, comprising production, teaching and administrative space, including four sound stages and a production center.

Under Daley’s leadership, the School of Cinematic Arts has added three new divisions in animation and digital arts and interactive media, built the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, established 25 endowed positions, and formed successful partnerships with a variety of entertainment and technology companies.