The Jimmy Gauntt Memorial Award

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.

News & Announcements

Jasneet Aulakh

by Casey Gauntt 2013 Recipients

I came in as a history and philosophy major my freshman year at USC and for the last four years I’ve been studying genocide and political violence.  For my history and philosophy research I’ve been travelling many times now to India and England to study cases of organized violence and particularly violence in modern India.  […]

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Melissa Farman

by Casey Gauntt 2013 Recipients

 I am honored to be a recipient of the Jimmy Gauntt award.  Over the last few years, my English classes were my constant lighthouse, my constant sanctuary. They were a space of communion and creativity. I learned of the holiness of story – how it threads meaning in our lives, how it changes that meaning, […]

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2012 Recipients

by Casey Gauntt 2012 Recipients

[L to R: Billy Youngblood, Andrew Ramirez, Casey and Hilary Gauntt, Diana Vaden,  Julia Cooperman (seated), Professor David Roman, Aishlin Cortell and Sydni Chiles] The Jimmy 2012 Recipients Please click on the red box

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Cameron Plunkett

by Casey Gauntt 2016 Recipients
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Veronika Syop

by Casey Gauntt 2016 Recipients

I was born in Los Angeles in 1990. I attended the University of Chicago as a Philosophy major, then took several years off of school to work before transferring to USC in 2013 and declaring my major in English (Creative Writing). I began writing poetry after taking Introduction to Poetry with Cecelia Woloch, which was […]

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Susi Lopera

by Casey Gauntt 2016 Recipients

My name is Susi Lopera. My full name is Susana, but my mom only calls me that when she’s angry, and the name Susana sounds terrifying when said in a Spanish accent by my infuriated mom, so I prefer Susi. I was born in Medellín, Colombia, but for most of my life I’ve felt like […]

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Jason Ketchum

by Casey Gauntt 2016 Recipients

I’m Jason Ketchum, twenty years old and turning twenty-one in a couple weeks on May 4. I’ve been raised by my mother alone, to whom I owe everything. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and lived there for only a couple years I don’t remember. My mother and I then moved to Los Angeles, where […]

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Yuqi Jasmine Li

by Casey Gauntt 2016 Recipients

I’m one of those hyphenated Americans. Chinese-American. And I make a journey across the Pacific Ocean at least once a year. All of my extended family still lives in China, one set of grandparents on a farm, and I’m just trying to walk the tightrope between two cultures, East Asian and Euro-American, and not fall […]

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Georgia Soares

by Casey Gauntt 2016 Recipients

Georgia graduated from USC in 2016 with a major in English and Creative Writing, and minors in French and Comparative Literature. As an undergraduate, she acquired research experience under the Mellon Mays and USC SURF fellowships, among others, and pursued the study of foreign languages, which sparked her interest in comparative literary studies. Upon graduation, […]

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‘We See Jimmy in Each of You’

by The Jimmy Gauntt Award News And Announcements

The third annual Jimmy Gauntt Memorial Award celebration remembers the alumnus, a poet, musician and playwright, while recognizing stellar undergraduate seniors in USC Dornsife’s Department of English. (Repost From: http://dornsife.usc.edu/) By Michelle Salzman May 9, 2012 The Jimmy Award, named in honor of alumnus Jimmy Gauntt, recognizes outstanding seniors in the English department who have demonstrated a […]

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