Anijo Mathew, a professor of entrepreneurship and urban technology, has been a member of the Institute of Design faculty since 2008 and dean since 2022. (Photo/Dan Chichester)
Anijo Mathew named dean of USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy
The designer and entrepreneur comes to USC from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology, where he serves as dean and professor.
Designer and entrepreneur Anijo Mathew has been named dean of the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy, effective Aug. 1, USC announced Tuesday.
Mathew currently serves as dean of the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, where he oversees graduate programs in human-centered design and systems-based design.
A professor of entrepreneurship and urban technology, Mathew has been a member of the Institute of Design faculty since 2008 and dean since 2022. As dean, he has led efforts to modernize the institute’s curriculum around emerging technologies. He expanded educational opportunities for students and mid-career professionals and tripled sponsored research funding for faculty.
“Anijo is a visionary researcher, entrepreneur and educational leader whose work is informed by the humanity at the heart of technology,” USC President Beong-Soo Kim said. “His career embodies many of the qualities that define IYA itself: creativity, interdisciplinary collaboration and a commitment to preparing students to lead in a changing world. His track record of fostering new collaborations will strengthen the impact of the academy at USC and beyond.”
Shaping a young school
A 2013 gift from music industry veterans and Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young established the academy.
“Anijo is exactly the kind of leader this academy was built for — and built to produce,” Iovine said. “He understands where technology, creativity and education are headed, and he’s the right person to lead us there.”
For Mathew, the iconoclastic approach that characterizes the academy and the opportunity to shape one of USC’s newest professional schools drew him to the dean role.
“With IYA, I have the opportunity to create a new legacy, because IYA is in its tweens,” Mathew said. “It’s an incredible opportunity to reimagine what the path forward looks like.”
USC Iovine and Young Academy’s undergraduate and graduate programs focus on innovation across industries through the integration of technology, design and business. In the academy’s unique, project-based learning model, students and faculty work together to respond to complex problems facing individuals, communities, organizations and society at large. Many students commercialize their own startups even before they graduate.
Mathew succeeds Professor Thanassis Rikakis, who has continued to teach at the academy since stepping down as dean last July, and takes the reins from interim Dean Josh Kun.
“Throughout the search process, Dean Mathew impressed us with his deep appreciation for the academy’s founding vision and his enthusiasm for its future,” USC Provost Andrew T. Guzman said. “His global perspective, entrepreneurial mindset and collaborative approach will help position the academy for continued success in the years ahead.”
Merging eclectic interests on a trailblazing path
Mathew’s career spans design, innovation, entrepreneurship and higher education with a global background. Born in Kottayam, India, Mathew spent his childhood in Muscat, Oman, and returned to India at age 14 to complete an education that laid the groundwork for his future career intertwining architecture, design and computing.
Mathew’s father, an accountant, introduced him to his first computer — the original Apple Macintosh — in 1984. “I remember him taking me to his office and showing me this box and saying, ‘This is the future of technology. You have to pay attention to it,’” Mathew recalled. “I had no idea this was going to be my passion in the long run.”
Trained as an architect, Mathew later co-founded one of the first digital design firms in Mumbai. He was captivated by the fusion of design and emerging digital technologies; he went on to earn a Master in Design Studies degree at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and a doctorate in Design Computing at The Open University in the United Kingdom.
His research has explored design-led corporate innovation and technology-led urban experiences. In 2015, he founded Vamonde, a Chicago-based startup that created digital storytelling experiences for cities around the world using augmented reality and virtual reality. “In cities, there is an incredible layering of histories, memories and stories,” Mathew said. “Smartphones created this impressive new opportunity to open up those stories to the everyday citizen.”
Mathew served as head of the Department of Art and Design at the College of Architecture, Art and Design at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates from 2019 to 2021. He has lectured at Harvard Business School, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Illinois Tech’s Stuart School of Business. He also works with global organizations to adapt and change strategic responses to transforming technologies.
Leading the USC Iovine and Young Academy into the future
Mathew arrives at USC at a moment when AI, extended reality and robotics are disrupting an array of industries and higher education itself.
“We are at the cusp of this incredible transformation, and we need to train our students to be prepared for that time,” Mathew said.
He sees USC Iovine and Young Academy as “an innovation engine for the entire university” and hopes to forge even greater connections between the academy and USC’s other 22 professional schools and academic units.
“Design is a catalyst, and it works best when it is amplified in collaboration with other disciplines,” Mathew said. “There’s an opportunity within USC and externally to the world to tell the story of what IYA is, why it is important and what we can do in collaboration.”
