Each year the faculty is invited to nominate outstanding English majors, who are in their senior year and who have demonstrated a commitment to the arts.
Jimmy Gauntt, a former USC student who majored in English, died tragically and unexpectedly when he was struck by a car in the summer of 2008. He was 24 years old.
The award is designed to recognize outstanding graduating seniors who have majored in English at USC and demonstrated an interest in the arts. It was founded in 2009 by Professor David Román, a Professor in the Departments of English and American Studies & Ethnicity, in honor of his former student, Jimmy Gauntt, who majored in English and died tragically in 2008. Please consider making a donation in support of USC’s multi-talented English majors.
Major: English (Creative Writing)Minor: Screenwriting I am a LA born-and-bred writer. Reading was my first love and quickly became an obsession, so majoring in English never felt like a choice for me; I was stuffing 300-page books into my backpack in elementary and was publishing (honestly pretty bad) fanfiction all throughout middle school. I spent […]
Major: Narrative StudiesMinor: American Studies and Ethnicity I was drawn to the University of Southern California and specifically to the Department of English because I was interested in studying literature in historical context. In my sophomore year, I switched over to an interdisciplinary program in the department known as narrative studies, which allowed me to […]
Major: English Since I am a first-generation student, I applied to a generic list of “good schools” at my high school counselor’s direction. USC accepted me. I started at USC as a psychology major determined not to do anything creative, but changed majors as I finished my sophomore year during the COVID-19 pandemic and realized […]
Major: EnglishMinor: Philosophy2022 Jimmy Award Recipient I transferred to USC at twenty-nine years old. Prior to the pursuit of an education, I had travelled the world and competed as a professional surfer. I was drawn to the history, tradition and community aspect of the school, as I recognized the importance of creating lasting relationships: you […]
Major: Narrative StudiesMinor: LGBT Studies2022 Jimmy Award Recipient I used to be a professional child actor. I started doing theater in elementary school but transitioned into professional shows around Chicago starting in 5th grade. I quit right before high school. I chose USC to be a screenwriter. I love movies and film criticism, and the […]
Major: EnglishMinor: Songwriting2022 Jimmy Award Recipient I was drawn to USC because of the campus’ proximity to my extended family. Although I was born in Inglewood, CA, my family moved to rural Texas when I was young, and I often lost the ability to visit family due to financial struggles. My time at USC was […]
Majors: English (Creative Writing) and Spanish2023 Jimmy Award Recipient My interest in the literary arts has held for years, and upon entering college, I knew I wanted to invest my course of study in literature, so I majored in both creative writing and Spanish. I specialize in the short story and am continuously compelled by […]
During my first semester at USC, I took Playwriting I, an upper-division theatre elective and my first-ever Narrative Studies class. On the first day, our professor asked us to share why we wrote. When she said this, I immediately wanted to drop the course. I had never really written anything beyond the five-paragraph high school […]
Gifted young authors get career boost through new endowment honoring fellow writer
