Amara Aguilar is a professor of journalism at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She teaches journalism for mobile/emerging platforms, social media storytelling for Latinx audiences, visual journalism, engaging diverse communities, public relations strategy, and interactive design, among other courses. At USC, she co-founded Annenberg Media’s award-winning bilingual outlet, Dímelo, focused on serving Latinx audiences.
Aguilar has written for the Los Angeles Times, CNN, NiemanLab, and other outlets. She has worked as a designer, visual journalist, reporter, social media engagement producer, and consultant. She’s conducted social media, data, and digital journalism training for the Associated Press, ABC News, the National Football League, and other organizations. Aguilar earned an Online News Association Challenge Fund grant for Innovation in Education in 2020, was named a TOW Knight Disruptive Educator for innovation in 2018, MediaShift’s top innovative journalism educator in 2018, a Scripps Howard Foundation-AEJMC visiting social media fellow in 2017, and an Apple Distinguished Educator in 2015. Her collaborations at USC include work with ABC7, L.A. TACO, NBC Latino, Snap Inc., Fusion, KPCC, NPR Next Generation Radio, Las Fotos Project, Azteca America, and others. She is also an SPJ trainer on Google News Initiative tools.
At USC she is a regular collaborator and faculty fellow for the Center for Public Diplomacy and has also worked with the Center for Health Journalism. She earned her doctorate at USC’s Rossier school of education in organizational change and leadership, where her research focused on converged newsrooms. She is currently examining the state of Latinas in journalism and writing a book focused on Latinx storytelling.
Course: JOUR 464 Experiential Journalism in Latin America
University Partner(s): University of Anahuac Mayab (UAM)
Laura Castañeda, EdD, an award-winning professor of professional practice in the USC Annenberg School of Journalism, has been a member of the faculty since 2000. Before joining USC Annenberg, she taught at Temple University and worked as a staff writer, editor and columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, and The Associated Press in San Francisco, New York and Mexico. Her freelance work has appeared in The New York Times, TheAtlantic.com, and Columbia Journalism Review magazine, among others. Her scholarly articles have appeared in Journalism and Mass Communication Educator and Journalism Studies.
Castañeda is co-editor of News and Sexuality: Media Portraits of Diversity, which was published by Sage Publications in October 2005. She is the co-author of The Latino Guide to Personal Money Management, which was published by Bloomberg Press in May 1999, and was released in Spanish by Seven Stories Press in 2001.
She earned undergraduate degrees in journalism and international affairs from USC, a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a doctorate from the USC Rossier School of Education. She also was awarded a Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in business and economics reporting from Columbia’s School of Journalism.
Castañeda served as associate director and assistant director of the School of Journalism between 2010-2014, where she oversaw undergraduate and graduate curriculum revisions. She also served as the academic at-large officer for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) from 2016-2018, and is a currently a member of the Advisory Board for Report for America. She teaches a range of undergraduate and graduate courses focused on reporting, writing and diversity.
In 2019, Castañeda was awarded the Barry Bingham Sr. Fellowship by the American Society of News Editors in recognition of an educator’s outstanding efforts to encourage students of color in the field of journalism.
Course: JOUR 464 Experiential Journalism in Latin America
University Partner(s): University of Anahuac Mayab (UAM)
Ratika Narag joined the University of Southern California in Fall 2013. She is an Assistant Professor (of teaching) and the Director of Master Studies in the Economics Department. Prior to joining USC, Ratika worked as an Economist at Deloitte Tax LLP, PricewaterHouse Coppers LLP and the World Bank.
Ratika completed her Ph.D. in Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2005, and obtained her M.A. in Economics in 2000 from the Delhi School of Economics, India. Ratika’s research interests include Asset Pricing, International Economics and Applied Econometrics. She teaches Graduate Macroeconomics and Econometrics for the MA Program as well as Intermediate Econometrics to the undergraduate students.
Course: ECON 515 Time Series Analysis
University Partner(s): TBD