Howard A. Rodman, the noted screenwriter, former president of the Writers Guild of America West and current vice president and secretary of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has been tapped by the University of Southern California to receive its prestigious Walter Wolf Award.
The honor, which recognizes “a USC faculty member for defense and advocacy of academic freedom or for other manifestations of social conscience through distinguished faculty service, teaching, scholarship or activity as a public intellectual,” will be presented during the USC Academic Senate’s End-of-the-Year Dinner on May 7.
Rodman has been a professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts for the past 25 years, chaired its writing division for several years and is the current chair of the jury of the USC Scripter Awards. At the end of this semester, he will be stepping away from active teaching to focus on other pursuits; his employment at the university will officially end a year from then. (He previously received USC’s Associates Award for Artistic Expression, “the highest honor the University bestows on its members for significant artistic impact,” in 2020.)
“I’m truly honored to be given an award named for Walter Wolf, who embodied the ideals of academic freedom and social conscience,” Rodman tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I’d like this to serve as a reminder that even in difficult times — especially in difficult times — stirring up good trouble is both necessary and rewarding.”
