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Social Innovation

Equity and Opportunity through Innovation

From helping end homelessness in L.A. County to developing new economic pathways so that a person’s zip code doesn’t determine life outcomes, the USC Price Center for Social Innovation is tackling today’s most urgent urban challenges — seeking to develop and inform new models that advance equity and opportunity for low-income families.

Academic Programs and Certificates in Social Innovation

Featured Research Center

Social Innovation News

Stories featuring USC Price research and expertise

“You can’t just sit in an ivory tower… you actually have to be embedded in the community. It’s been tremendously rewarding to be part of that process and to be part of the community.”

Professor and Director of the Price Center for Social Innovation and the Homelessness Policy Research Institute

Social Innovation Faculty

Explore USC Price faculty and their cross-disciplinary scholarship

NamePositionExpertise
Emma AguilaEmma AguilaAssociate ProfessorEconomics of aging, health economics, and applied econometrics
Christine Beckman headshotChristine M. BeckmanProfessor
Price Family Chair in Social Innovation
Director, Price Center for Social Innovation
Social innovation and inequality, organizational learning and interorganizational networks, entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship, technology and work, organizational control
Marlon BoarnetMarlon BoarnetProfessor
Director, METRANS Transportation Center
Transportation, travel behavior, urban growth patterns, regional science, urban economics
Elizabeth Currid-HalkettElizabeth Currid-HalkettProfessor
James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning
Economic development, the arts, cultural economy, social networks, urban growth, economic geography
Nic Duquette headshotNicolas DuquetteAssociate ProfessorNonprofit economics, public finance, economic history
Nicole E. EsparzaAssociate ProfessorNonprofit organizations, networks, philanthropy, and urban inequality
James FerrisJames M. FerrisProfessor
Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs
Emery Evans Olson Chair in Non-Profit Entrepreneurship and Public Policy
Director, Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy
Philanthropy, nonprofit economics, public finance, public policy, institutional analysis
Alexandra Graddy-ReedAssociate ProfessorPublic economics, philanthropy and nonprofits, social innovation, science and innovation policy, research and development
Howard Greenwald headshotHoward GreenwaldProfessorHealth service delivery, organizational behavior, survey design
Eric HeikkilaProfessorUrban development, economic development, East Asian cities, urban economics, urban information systems
Dora VertentenDora Kingsley VertentenProfessor (Teaching)
Coordinator, Master of Public Administration – Online
Public policy, intergovernmental management, non-profit management, strategic planning, social media and information technologies useful in collaborative and participatory democracy
LaVonna LewisLaVonna B. LewisProfessor (Teaching)
Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
American politics, public policy (most notably health policy), interest groups, and federal programs
Glenn MelnickGlenn MelnickProfessor
Blue Cross of California Chair in Health Care Finance
Health economics, health finance, health care systems, managed care
Juliet Ann Musso headshotJuliet Ann MussoAssociate Professor
Vice Dean for Graduate Programs
State and local governance; federalism, urban political economy, fiscal policy, community governance, government performance.
Dowell Myers 2022 squared headshotDowell MyersProfessor
Director, Population Dynamics Research Group
Demographic change, future of California, housing impacts, workforce and education, immigration and assimilation, communication for consensus about change
Deborah J. NatoliDeborah J. NatoliProfessor (Teaching)Adult development and learning, leadership, human behavior and organizations, depth psychology and psychoanalysis
Bill Resh headshotWilliam G. ReshAssociate Professor
C.C. Crawford Professor in Management and Performance
Public Management, US presidency and executive politics, policy implementation, organization theory, personnel policy, organizational behavior
Peter Robertson headshot 2019Peter J. RobertsonAssociate ProfessorOrganizational theory and behavior, organizational change, ecological governance, collaborative organizing, interorganizational networks
Lisa SchweitzerProfessorEnvironmental justice, Sustainable transportation, Hazardous materials in urban environments, Community environmental quality
David SloaneDavid SloaneProfessor
Chair, Department of Urban Planning and Spatial Analysis
Urban history, community health planning, health disparities, cultural landscapes
Roberto SuroProfessorImmigration, Hispanic immigration, immigration policy
Julie ZissimopoulosJulie M. ZissimopoulosProfessor
Co-Director, Aging and Cognition Program, USC Schaeffer Center
Economics of aging, economics of the family, labor economics, health economics