James Bullock was named the dean of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, according to a university-wide announcement sent by USC Provost Andrew T. Guzman on Monday. Bullock will take over for Interim Dean Moh El-Naggar on July 1.
“Dean Bullock is both an accomplished leader and scholar, and with him at the helm, we know that the college will continue to elevate its tradition of world-class research, innovation, and overall academic excellence,” Guzman wrote.
The Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences is USC’s largest school, containing 36 departments, more than 90 majors and over 7,700 undergraduate students, according to their website. Bullock will help oversee Dornsife’s $119 million annual research expenditure.
Bullock is currently the dean of the school of physical sciences at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and is a professor of physics and astronomy, specializing in theoretical astrophysics, according to his UCI biography. He was a Hubble Fellow at Harvard University and was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2023. At USC, Bullock will hold the Anna H. Bing Dean’s Chair.
Dornsife’s current dean, El-Naggar, took over after Amber Miller stepped down as Dornsife’s longest serving dean in June 2024. Pinchas Cohen, Dean of the Davis School of Gerontology and Paula Cannon, Professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at the Keck School of Medicine co-chaired the USC Dornsife dean search advisory committee.
Bullock has previously served as Chair of the University of California Observatories Keck Telescope Extragalactic Time Allocation Committee, Director of the UC multicampus Southern California Center for Galaxy Evolution and Director of the Center for Cosmology at UCI. Bullock also established UCI’s quantum science institute and founded their Industry Advisory Board to connect students and faculty to the UCI business community.
“These unique efforts strengthened opportunities for student success at UCI and elevated the school’s reputation locally and globally, proving his commitment to leadership at the highest level,” Guzman wrote.