While everyone is still reeling over Dr. Dre and Jimmy Lovine’s $70 million donation to the University of Southern California, the duo decided to reveal the new undergraduate program’s mission statement that is causing some confusion.
The new program, named the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy For Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation, is not only a mouthful to say, but many people believe its program description is pure mumbo jumbo as well, according to ValleyWag.com.
Sam Biddle, a writer for ValleyWag, explained that the more he read USC’s press release for the program, “the less you’ll understand what this program actually consists of, or what it’s really meant to accomplish.”
Weary of the celebrity behind the program, one commenter joked, “I can take a course with the Beyonce Professorship of Entrepreneurial Diva Studies,”as well as the “Barbara Streisand Professorship of Intimacy and Sexuality.” This new program is nearly $43,000 a year and critics are wondering whether this seemingly aimless and wayward program will be worth a student’s investment in his or her future.
However, I think the program produced by the two music industry moguls is wrongly framed as “incoherent” and illogical.
The USC program website comprehensibly presents four core courses of study to curious: “Arts and Entrepreneurship, Technology”, “Design and Marketability”, “Concept and Business Platforms”, and “Creating a Prototype.” The latter curriculum, Creating a Prototype, is the most promising for blossoming careers: it pairs up each student with assigned faculty members who are well-equipped with knowledge from the business and arts world. Mentorship and advice from real-world experts is key to a student’s success in the field of business and marketing. This is what employers look for in their prospective employees.
The program description, in my eyes, is not difficult to interpret. If critics believe that this description is too ambiguous, I’m not sure USC can be any clearer without sounding infantile:
“It will offer a highly select group of students an integrated, four-year course of study that will provide in-depth learning in, engineering, and computer science, fine arts, and graphic design, business, and leadership models.”
While cynics believe Dr. Dre should leave “Andrew Young” at home and stick to selling Beats to the young, hipster consumers, some optimists believe in the positive outcomes that will transpire from this new USC program. Your thoughts?
