Professor Norbert Schwarz
Current job:
Provost Professor of Psychology and Marketing at the University of Southern California & Director of the Mind and Society Center
Studies in Mannheim:
Social Sciences
Highest degree:
Diplom/
Career
After graduating with a Diplom in Social Sciences, I decided to pursue a career in academia and earned a doctorate in Sociology from the University of Mannheim. Then I received a fellowship from the German Research Foundation and joined the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign as postdoc. For my habilitation in Psychology, I went to Heidelberg University and then I worked at ZUMA (now GESIS) in Mannheim for a few years as scientific director. After that, I was appointed as professor at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Since 2014, I am Professor of Psychology and Professor of Marketing at the University of Southern California, a private research university in Los Angeles. I founded the interdisciplinary Mind & Society Center to analyze questions at the interface of psychology and social sciences. I am member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the German National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina.
Tips for starting your career
It is advisable to follow your own interests and not just stick to academic disciplines. Try to find out at which universities you can limit the additional bureaucratic work and have a lot of freedom for your research. Find the path that suits you and take advantage of unforeseen opportunities. Pursuing my interests has brought me to the US and I do not regret this step.
Relevance of the studied program
Having studied in Mannheim helped me to find a good spot at the interface of several disciplines in the social sciences. This helped me a lot for the content of my research.
Last updated February 2023
Credit: Pressestelle der University of Southern California