Daniel T. Durbin

Daniel T. Durbin is a Clinical Professor of Communication at the University of Southern California (USC) and founder/director of the USC Annenberg Institute of Sports, Media and Society. He leads the African-American Experience in Major League Baseball oral histories project, documenting players from the 25 years post-Jackie Robinson. His work examines sport as rhetorical performance, with current research focusing on Los Angeles' 1947 socio-cultural transformations and redefining sport as public discourse.

Research interests span sport ethics, popular culture, media industries, and cultural analysis. He has secured grants from the LA’84 Foundation as lead investigator. Durbin frequently lectures at institutions like the University of Alabama and Emerson College, and appears widely in media (CBS, BBC, NPR, etc.) as a sports rhetoric expert.

Teaching includes courses on classical rhetoric (COMM 330p) and sports communication (COMM 383m). His Media Center affiliations and collaborations amplify interdisciplinary research on media’s role in shaping societal narratives.