This fall, USC Gould welcomes two new assistant professors to its faculty roster: Emily Ryo and Sam Erman. Ryo most recently worked as a research fellow in the Stanford Law School Program in Law and Society, while Erman comes to USC Gould from the Smithsonian Institution.
“I am thrilled to welcome Emily Ryo and Sam Erman to the faculty,” Dean Rasmussen said. “Both bring deep interdisciplinary perspectives to their scholarship. Emily's training as both a lawyer and a sociologist enables her to bring new insights into the field of immigration, one of our country's most pressing issues. Sam, a legal historian, provides a fresh look at the post-Civil War period as our nation acquired territories outside of our national boundaries.”
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| Prof.Emily Ryo joins USC Gould from Stanford Law School. |
Ryo will be teaching courses in law and society, criminal law, immigration law and other related subjects and says she is excited to bring her experience to USC Gould.
“My post-law school experiences, including private practice, judicial clerkship, and graduate education, have taught me that legal education should be broad-minded and interdisciplinary if we want to produce lawyers who can understand opposing points of view, problem solve, and communicate effectively across diverse audiences,” Ryo said. “I am excited that I get to share this vision with students, and to be part of their journey through the transformative learning process.”
Ryo said she admires USC Gould’s reputation as a leader in empirical legal studies. Her commitment to research and understanding how it relates to successful legal careers is something she hopes to bring to life in the classroom.
“In my research, I employ both qualitative and quantitative methods to understand complex social and legal issues,” Ryo said. “In many ways, I think the fundamentals of these methods—from interview techniques to analytical decision-making required in data analysis—are at the heart of what makes good lawyers great lawyers; I am looking forward to sharing some of this passion with my students.”
Ryo believes that USC Gould’s location in the heart of Los Angeles offers “grand” opportunities to observe how the law and society intersect.
“I feel very fortunate that USC Gould is at the center of a mega-metropolis that presents many opportunities for engagement with important legal and social issues of our day,” Ryo said. “I am currently working on an empirical project that examines prolonged detention of immigrants, for example, and USC Gould has been a natural platform to undertake this kind of a study.”
She also looks forward to joining the school because of its faculty and research capabilities.
“One thing that drew me to USC Gould is the incredible community of brilliant and kind faculty members with whom I feel truly honored to be colleagues,” she said. “I also feel very fortunate to be at a law school that is part of a world-class research university, since many of my interests span across different intersections of law and social sciences.”
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| Prof. Sam Erman comes to USC Gould from the Smithsonian Institute. |
At the Smithsonian, Sam Erman was a Latino Studies Postdoctoral Fellow whose research focused on the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States. As a legal historian, he hopes to show students a myriad of ways in which the law and history connect.
He will teach a seminar on the Transnational Constitution for both law students and undergraduates. The course will examine the influence of constitutional ideas across borders, how the United States created its Constitution and how those constitutional ideas found their ways into the foundational law of other nations and international organizations.
“For law students, history opens new ways of understanding and thinking about their chosen profession -- as a consequential calling, as a field that has looked different in the past and will look different again, and as a set of practices intertwined with all aspects of society,” Erman said. “For undergraduates, I aim to provide a historically grounded introduction to law as a distinct domain with its own expectations, practices, vocabulary and puzzles. My goal is to help them decide whether to pursue a life in the law and to better understand the law that surrounds them whether or not they become lawyers.”
He sees the classroom as an equally beneficial place for him to learn from his students and their ideas.
“One of the great pleasures of the academic life is the chance to discuss the ideas one is passionate about with smart, engaged students who inevitably bring fresh perspectives to the inquiry,” Erman said.
He says he looks forward to sharing his expertise with USC Gould, and is equally eager to be a part of its community of fellow faculty members.
“I'm thrilled to be coming to USC, especially to have the opportunities to work with the amazing scholars and students here,” Erman said. “I am particularly excited by the opportunity to share work with and learn from colleagues. One of the things that drew me to USC was the strength and generosity of the faculty. Both the law school and history department are packed with people whose work I admire. In the law school, the particular strength of the faculty in the social sciences matches up incredibly well with new directions in my research. And the willingness of scholars there to help junior colleagues grow and thrive is invaluable.”
Dean Rasmussen is confident that these two new faculty members will be a great asset not only to USC Gould but also the legal communities who will benefit from their research and work with students.
“The impressive scholarship and teaching exhibited by our new professors are matched only by the extraordinary promise of more great work to come,” Dean Rasmussen said.
For more information on Emily Ryo and Sam Erman, please see their bios.
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