Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to USC for those of you who are new, and welcome back to campus to those returning. It is always energizing to watch our campuses come to life as the USC community returns from summer recess. As I begin my second full academic year as Provost, I look forward to working with all of you to provide our students with a world class academic experience.
With that in mind, I’m excited to share that USC’s new Learning Management System (LMS), Brightspace at USC, is now fully operational. This LMS replacement initiative has been a collaborative effort between the Office of the Provost, Information Technology Services, Enrollment Services, staff in the academic units, faculty, and students over the last year. I thank each person involved in making a project of this size and scale come to life. Their participation during this transition has been essential to our ongoing pursuit of academic excellence.
Over the last few weeks, you’ve received reminders about completing Brightspace training ahead of the start of the semester. With classes beginning in just over a week, it is imperative that all faculty are up to date on the new system so we can offer our students a smooth transition into the semester. Synchronous and asynchronous training is available now and will continue to be available through the week of August 19 to ensure you have time to be prepared for classes, which begin August 26. Trainings will continue to be available throughout the semester as needed.
If you have not yet signed up for training, all available sessions can be found on CET’s website. I encourage you to attend one of the offerings to ensure a smooth transition this fall. Of special note is the Boot Camp offered during the week of August 19, which will cover all Brightspace essentials. There are additional resources available on the USC Brightspace Help website.
Thank you all for your attention to these important updates and the work you do to make USC an institution where our students are able to thrive, important research is conducted, pathbreaking art is made, and clinics are able to serve our greater community.
Fight on!
Sincerely,
Andrew T. Guzman
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs