Campus Collaboration

The Institute believes in the power of collaboration and engaging with the many remarkable organizations and centers at USC, both student and faculty run.

Programs we are partnering with: 

USC Office of Undergraduate Programs  

The USC Department of Undergraduate Programs provides a distinctive undergraduate experience built on excellent liberal arts and professional programs, and aims to create unique opportunities for career preparation through innovative collaborations across disciplines. The Schwarzenegger Institute is proud to partner with the Department of Undergraduate Programs. USC students have the opportunity to submit original work for consideration at the Undergraduate Writers' Conference and the Undergraduate Research Symposium. Students who enter the Writers’ Conference compete for prizes in four categories, and have in small panel discussions based on themes. The Research Symposium provides students with the unique opportunity to exhibit and share examples of their significant research and creativity with the university community. Entries in both festivals are eligible for the Schwarzenegger Institute Prize if they propose a real world solution to a serious policy challenge that improves the lives of people and communities in one or more of the following policy areas: education; environment & energy; health & wellness; fiscal & economic; and/or political reform. There is a banquet at the end of each festival where Schwarzenegger Prize winners will be honored and given their award along with other festival winners.

Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics  

The Schwarzenegger Institute was proud to partner with the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics on "Students Talk Back," a series of weekly forum bringing thought leaders on a wide variety of relevant topics to campus. 

USC Center for Sustainable Cities   ​

With environment and climate change being important policy areas for the Institute, we joined forces with the USC Center for Sustainable Cities to host a public forum where the leading climate scientists in the US came to discussed their finding in the Federal Advisory Committee Draft Climate Assessment Report.

USC Graduate Policy and Administration Community  

​USC GPAC and ICMA – International City/County Management Association are dedicated to improving government management across the world.  The USC Schwarzenegger Institute partners with these student run organizations to create and sponsor an annual Case Challenge competition. The student-led organizing committee networks with local government managers across Los Angeles County to identify an actual challenge being faced by a local municipality. Competing students, including students in public administration, public policy, planning, health administration, and real estate development, then work in small groups over the course of a fast-paced three days to present a preliminary solution to the issue at hand. The selected city, in exchange for its participation, receives nearly 1,000 hours of free consulting work.