December 5, 2024
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of President Folt and myself, I am excited to announce that we will welcome Christopher Boone as dean of the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, effective January 1, 2025. Dean Boone will hold the C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Dean’s Chair.
Originally from Canada, Dean Boone will join us from Arizona State University (ASU) where he has filled a variety of leadership roles over 18 years. In his time at ASU, he served as Dean of the School of Sustainability from 2013-2020 and was the Founding Dean of the College of Global Futures in 2020-2021. He is the co-founder and Interim President of the National Sustainability Society, an organization created to develop sustainability as a coherent, transdisciplinary scholarly field, support the growth of sustainability programs in colleges and universities, and convene and connect sustainability researchers, practitioners, employers, and graduates.
Dean Boone is an expert in urban sustainability, global environment change, urbanization, and environmental justice, and his research contributes to scholarship and practice in those fields. As an executive committee member for the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, which is administered by USC, he is a crucial asset in reviewing nominations to select the Tyler Prize Laureate and advance the goals of the Tyler Prize.
As the Founding Dean of ASU’s College of Global Futures, Dean Boone established an entirely new college by bringing together the existing School of Sustainability and the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and created the School of Complex Adaptive Systems. In this role, he oversaw over 200 faculty and staff members and 2,000 students. He launched a Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Working Group to develop strategic priorities for the college. His commitment to innovation, forward thinking, and championing students and faculty from a wide array of backgrounds is a testament to his leadership abilities.
A champion for innovation, Dean Boone has been committed to pushing the frontiers of knowledge, discovery, and learning throughout his tenure at ASU. During his seven years as Dean of the School of Sustainability, he provided leadership to 621 majors and over 2,800 students in various sustainability programs and maintained the highest freshman retention rates on campus through the recruitment of high caliber faculty and staff.
For over a decade, Dean Boone has held various roles, including board member, for the Global Council for Science and the Environment, dedicated to advancing the scientific basis for environmental decision making. He has also served on the scientific steering committee of the Urbanization and Global Environmental Change Program (an International Human Dimensions Program and Future Earth project). He has also led as a co-PI and senior scientist for two Long Term Ecological Research programs, the Baltimore Ecosystem Study and the Central Arizona Phoenix LTER.
In addition to his leadership at Arizona State University, Dean Boone has held over a dozen academic appointments at a variety of top-tier research universities including Yale, Georgetown, Ohio University, and California State University-Los Angeles. He has authored and co-authored three books, 21 book chapters, and 56 journal articles. His scholarship has been supported with 62 research grants totaling $40 million.
Interim Dean Genevive Giuliano will continue to lead Price for the remainder of the year ahead of Dean Boone’s arrival. I would like to express our deepest gratitude for her leadership and continued dedication to the Price community during this search. Dr. Giuliano is not only Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, the Margaret and John Ferraro Chair in Effective Local Government, and an RSAI Fellow, but directed the METRANS Transportation Consortium for more than 20 years and served as Price’s first Associate Dean for Research. Her depth of familiarity with the Price School provided the necessary leadership during this transitional period. We could not have done without her steady support.
Our sincere thanks also goes to the Price Dean Search Advisory Committee, co-chaired by Pedro Noguera, Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education, and Robin Romans, Associate Vice Provost. Both provided thoughtful service through a complex process alongside an excellent group of peers to ensure the success of this search. Our search also benefitted from the input and participation of so many members of the Price community, including students, staff, and faculty, as well as the Price’s Board of Councilors whose feedback throughout the process has demonstrated their commitment to the school and its community.
Please join President Folt and me as we welcome Christopher Boone to USC in his new role as the next dean of the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. We are excited for his innovative and forward-thinking spirit, expertise in sustainability and public policy, and excellence in leadership that he will bring to our community and into the future.
Sincerely,
Andrew T. Guzman
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs