Jon M. Chu, the filmmaker behind the award-winning adaptation of “Wicked” and the 2018 blockbuster “Crazy Rich Asians,” will receive an honorary degree during USC’s commencement ceremony on May 15 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, it was announced Thursday.
Chu will also deliver the keynote address at the event.
USC President Carol Folt will also award honorary degrees for “significant contributions to film, the arts and culture” to arts champion and former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts Maria Rosario Jackson and writer and environmental activist Terry Tempest Williams.
More than 18,000 degrees will be conferred at USC’s commencement this year, including over 1,000 doctorate degrees at the school ceremonies across the university. More than 60,000 people are expected to attend.
Chu is an alumnus of the USC School of Cinematic Arts. His critically acclaimed “Wicked” garnered 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and earned two wins. His memoir, “Viewfinder,” was released last summer and highlights his journey from growing up in Silicon Valley to transitioning to Hollywood and helming major studio projects.
Jackson has dedicated her career as a researcher, scholar, educator, administrator and policymaker to understanding and elevating arts, culture and design as critical elements of healthy communities, according to USC. Prior to becoming the NEA’s chair, she served on the National Council on the Arts for nearly a decade.
Williams is an acclaimed American writer, educator, environmental activist and public lands advocate. She has authored more than 20 books, including “Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place,” considered a classic in environmental literature. Williams has testified before Congress on women’s health, been a guest at the White House, camped in the remote wildernesses of Utah and Alaska, and worked as a “barefoot artist” in Rwanda, according to USC.