When Patrick Corbin learned of the President’s Faculty Advisory Committee, he knew he had to try and get a position on it. As an associate professor of practice at the Kaufman School of Dance, he wanted to represent the “small but mighty” school and was “honored” when interim President Beong-Soo Kim selected him as an inaugural member of the committee.

On Aug. 27, Kim announced the Faculty Advisory Committee in a memo sent to USC faculty and staff. The committee aims to allow staff to have direct conversations with the interim president.

“First, it is clear … how much our community loves USC,” Kim wrote. “Alongside my ongoing consultation with the Staff Assembly, Academic Senate, and faculty and staff across the university, I am forming a Faculty Advisory Committee that will share its perspectives and ideas on how to advance academic excellence at USC.” 

Unlike the Academic Senate, which has members representing all 23 of USC’s schools, the committee has 18 members, which represent 18 different schools. The schools not represented on the committee are the Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, USC Bovard College, Iovine and Young Academy, Leventhal School of Accounting and Chan School of Occupational Therapy.

Michael Bodie, associate professor of the practice at the School of Cinematic Arts, said he was hopeful about the new committee. 

“Any opportunity that there can be more dialogue between the top of the University and those of us who are on the front lines of the education and research and clinical environments is a good thing,” Bodie said. 

Bodie is a member of United Faculty – United Auto Workers, a proposed union of most research, training, practitioner and clinical-track faculty at USC, otherwise referred to as non-tenure- track faculty.

Bodie said he wants to give Kim the “benefit of the doubt,” as his administration is already showing differences from the previous administration, but is concerned that the faculty in the committee won’t have a strong impact on administration.

“President [Carol] Folt primarily created walls between the faculty and herself. Already, interim President Kim seems to be wanting to try to break that down,” Bodie said. “At the end of the day, even in this committee, the only person with the real power in it will be the president, which is the same problem we have in the [Academic Senate] structure currently.” 

As a committee member, Corbin hopes to represent and advocate for Kaufman, particularly the non-tenure track faculty who comprise most of the school. He said he was honored to be a part of the small committee.

Corbin said his mission as a member of the committee is to stay in dialogue with Kim and update him about “the real consequences” of budget cuts that include lay-offs. 

“I always have my critical thinking cap on so I can be both incredibly supportive [of] and love USC and be critical of USC and want it to be better and to do better by all of the communities that are here at USC But specifically and particularly, we [want to do better by] RTPC faculty and our students, because our working conditions are your learning conditions,” Corbin said. 

Corbin said under Folt, he would ask critical questions, but he did not feel he was met with open dialogue in return.

“I think I also caught [Folt] off guard. Sometimes, maybe [Folt] wasn’t used to being challenged by a non-tenure-track associate professor of practice,” Corbin said. “It seems that [with] Beong-Soo Kim, already we’re having a dialogue, and already, the emails that I’m having with him are very personable and positive.”

Corbin said that having “frank, honest discussions” and working to find a real consensus toward solutions will be the challenges facing the committee. He hopes to see the committee become a respectful forum that allows for open dialogue as they work to come up with solutions that are “humane.” 

“This is an opportunity for us to make the culture of USC better and more human and more caring and to truly live by our values,” he said. “That’s what I’m really hopeful for.”