Kennard Appointed Senior Fellow at USC
Kennard will lead the center’s development of a project on women in communication leadership that will become a center for scholarly research, policy analysis and professional executive training. Kennard also will contribute to the Communication Leadership & Policy blog and participate in other public programs.
“Throughout my career, I have watched women in the media make an extraordinary difference when they held key leadership positions,” Kennard said. “The bold decision-making and the focused, creative drive that women bring as leaders must continue to have a defining role in the reinvention of the media and communication industries. I am very pleased to be working on this project at the USC Annenberg School alongside my dear colleague Geoff Cowan, who has had a major impact in nearly every facet of the communication world.”
“Cinny Kennard is an exceptional journalist and highly respected media executive who understands the challenges facing the news business and the critical need to find new ways to keep the public informed and engaged,” said Geoffrey Cowan, USC University Professor, dean emeritus of the USC Annenberg School and director of the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. “There is a worldwide need to continue to increase and improve the role of women in all sectors of the communication field, including in news and information. Cinny will play an invaluable role in developing our work in this area, and I am delighted to welcome her back to USC Annenberg.”
Kennard, who was a USC Annenberg journalism professor and project director from 1999-2003, joins the center after five and a half years as managing director/managing editor of National Public Radio’s West Coast Production Center. As NPR’s chief West Coast executive, she guided the strategic direction and management of NPR West in both an editorial and operational capacity. She also built the digital footprint for the radio programs based there.
Before NPR, Kennard’s journalism career included several years as a CBS News correspondent based in Los Angeles, London and Moscow. Kennard covered stories ranging from the civil unrest in the wake of the Rodney King verdict, the 1994 uprising in Moscow and the war in the former Yugoslavia. She also worked as both correspondent and host for television stations in Dallas, Houston and Ft. Wayne, Ind. Her broadcast career started at WNLK radio in Norwalk, Conn., where she was a reporter, anchor and talk show host.
“The addition of Cinny Kennard is another exciting appointment for our school,” said Ernest J. Wilson III, dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. “As USC Annenberg continues to focus on leadership, innovation and entrepreneurism, we are thrilled to add Cinny’s expertise and talent to what we offer. In this challenging time for the media industry, she is just the person to help lead the conversation for students, professionals and the community as a whole.”
During her previous tenure at USC Annenberg, she launched projects aimed at improving broadcast journalism, including Reliable Resources, the Pew Charitable Trust-sponsored project to improve radio and television political coverage. She researched and published widely on the role of females in broadcast war coverage, including co-authoring “Characteristics of War Coverage by Female Correspondents” in the book Media and Conflict in the 21st Century (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005). Her research on gender and television war coverage was presented at several conferences, including the American Political Science Association.
Kennard is also a co-founder and current board member of the Carole Kneeland Project for Responsible Television Journalism. She was a member of the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award jury for excellence in broadcast journalism for nine years.
She currently serves on the editorial advisory board for Global Post (www.globalpost.com), a new Internet news service built to redefine international news for the digital age. She also is a member of the International Women’s Forum, a global organization of preeminent women of significant and diverse achievement.
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USC in the News
for 2/8/2012 »-
The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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