Over 100 years ago, California painter William Lees Judson founded and became the first Dean of the USC School of Fine Arts, making this the oldest art school in the region. The school is dedicated to providing undergraduate and graduate students with the knowledge, skills and experience necessary for careers as visual artists, designers or public art administrators. Attracting approximately 260 undergraduate majors, over 1,000 liberal arts students and 50 graduate students each year, the school educates students in the creative, interpretive and critical processes which form the foundation for visual art practice.

The School of Fine Arts nurtures many different aesthetics. This broad-based education imbues each student with an appreciation and sense of perspective of our artistic heritage, freeing them to find their own inner voice. Alliances with prestigious arts institutions and companies also provide students with access to invaluable internships and career opportunities. Seminars, critiques and personal contact with the award-winning faculty, as well as with the visiting artists and critics who comprise a strong and continuing lecture program, enrich the student's development.

The school's on-campus educational programs are conducted principally in Harris Hall, which was specifically designed and built, in 1938, to house the school, and in Watt Hall, dedicated in 1974. These two buildings and adjacent properties provide well-equipped studios and workshops; two photography labs, one for black and white printing and one for color processing; two digital media labs; extensive indoor/outdoor ceramics and sculpture facilities; three student galleries; a café; shop facilities; and faculty and administrative offices. The library of the School of Fine Arts, located in Watt Hall, contains over 70,000 volumes and bound periodicals, micrographic facilities and a slide library with nearly 250,000 slides.

The study and practice of the fine arts are further enhanced by the particularly fertile artistic and cultural environment in which the school exists. The Los Angeles metropolitan area not only forms a major center for practicing artists and commercial galleries of significance on the contemporary art scene, but is also the home for such outstanding permanent collections as those of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art and others located in close proximity to the campus. Full advantage is taken of such regional resources, with visits to galleries and museums forming an integral part of the student's course work.