Elizabeth M. Daley was appointed dean of the USC School of Cinema-Television in 1991. She is the inaugural holder of the Steven J. Ross/Time Warner Dean’s Chair. Under her leadership, the school has added three new divisions in Animation and Digital Arts, Interactive Media and Games, and Media Arts + Practice; built the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts; established 32 endowed positions; and formed successful partnerships with a variety of entertainment and technology companies. In 2006, Daley presided over the school’s official renaming as the School of Cinematic Arts by George Lucas and broke ground for a new complex that now includes three instructional buildings, four sound stages and a production center.
Before coming to USC, she served as director of the film and television subsidiary of the Mark Taper Forum and was a producer for MGM/Television. She serves on the boards of Avid Technology, the Benton Foundation, and Digital Domain, and is a former chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Media, Entertainment and Information. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Daley earned a Ph.D. in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin and M.A. and B.A. degrees in Theatre from Tulane University. She is the recipient of an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Hong Kong Baptist University.