Solange Knowles is USC’s first ever scholar in residence

The University of California just announced news of its latest addition to the faculty and it’s a special one. Solange Knowles will take up her position as the Thornton School of Music’s first scholar in residence, a three year position that will see her teach a course, host student workshops, and help develop program offerings in music curation.

Solange will teach her course, titled Records of Discovery: Methodologies for Music and Cultural Curatorial Practices, in collaboration with her creative agency, Saint Heron. The class will “explore the process of constructing curatorial frameworks alongside the context, craft and creation of musical landscapes,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Additionally, Solange will also become the second member of the Dean’s Creative Vanguard Program, a “wide-ranging group of distinguished music artists and creative leaders.” Raphael Saadiq was named as the first in late 2024.

“I am a G.E.D. graduate. I was a teenage mom. I was pregnant with my son at 17, so I didn’t get to further my education in the classical sense,” Solange told the LA Times. “But I was really blessed and honored to have enriched these other parts of education through my art, through travel [and] through the globalization of my life … so to be able to have access and broader tools as a scholar in residence, to enrich that and deepen that, is really so exciting for me.” Where do I sign up to audit?

In December last year, Solange said she had marked 2025 as a year for songwriting, something that she will now have to fit in around classes. She told Vogue Australia, that she would “probably dedicate myself to it [making music] full time next year. Over the past five years, I’ve focused on creating works that I hope will inspire and occupy a space-time far beyond my own existence. I’m preparing spiritually, physically, artistically, and mentally for my future self at 60 or 70.”

When I Get Home, the most recent Solange album, was released in 2019.