The USC Dornsife Office of Experiential and Applied Learning (ExL) is being shut down, according to Emily Hodgson Anderson, the USC Dornsife College Dean of Undergraduate Education. However, programs under ExL will continue.
“While the Office of Experiential and Applied Learning is no longer active as a separate administrative unit, each of its programs — including JEP, the Prison Education Project, Mock Trial, and the Fisher Fellowship — continues without interruption under the leadership of their individual directors,” Hodgson Anderson said. “These programs remain a vital part of our mission to connect classroom learning with real-world experience and engagement.”
It remains unclear where the various programs under ExL will be housed. A student who worked with programs under the office confirmed to Annenberg Media that Associate Dean for Experiential Learning Dean Tammara Anderson and ExL Innovation and Implementation Manager Amber Harris have been laid off.
Since 2017, the Office of Experiential and Applied Learning has run Dornsife’s ExL programs, which allow students to work within their communities and study abroad.
The move comes amid tension and layoffs at the university following ongoing budgetary restructuring. On Wednesday, the university also saw non-tenured faculty demonstrating for union recognition and new labor protections.
Agents of Change, an undergraduate civil rights clinic also housed in ExL, made local headlines this summer after they established a hotline to assist people attending immigration hearings online.
Annenberg Media has confirmed Fisher Fellows will receive the same support, but the program will be housed under an unannounced branch.
This is a developing news story.