Marilyn L. Flynn

Between 1992 and 1997, Flynn was Director of the Institute of Public Policy and Social Research as well as Michigan State University’s School of Social Work. She was an associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work between 1985 and 1991.^[2]

Flynn was appointed USC Dean in 1997 and was only the second woman to hold that position. She established new graduate academic centers in West Los Angeles and San Diego, began a web based Master of Social Work program in 2010, began the first military social work specialization and created the first career services program for social workers.^[3]

Flynn has received the international Sarnat Prize for Advancement of Social Work and in 2015, the USC Provost’s Inaugural Prize for Innovation in Educational practice.^[4]

Between 1997 and 2018, Flynn was a USC dean and tenured professor. In 2018, Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, through his political campaign fund, gave $100,000 to Flynn’s school. The school then passed the money on to a think tank connected to the councilman’s son, Sebastian Ridley-Thomas. In June 2018, the school reported their concerns over possible inappropriate financial transactions to legal authorities.^[5] Flynn subsequently resigned in disgrace.

In 2022, Flynn agreed to plead guilty to federal bribery charges^[1] and was sentenced in June 2023 to three years probation and $150,000 in fines. Ridley-Thomas was sentenced to 42 months in prison.^[6]