Vanderbilt University Distinguished Professor of Political Science John Geer will spend fall 2009 at Harvard University as a Fellow of the prestigious Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.
Among the goals of the fellowship program is to advance research in the field of press, politics and public policy while facilitating a dialogue among scholars, journalists and policymakers. Since 1986 the Shorenstein Center has hosted more than 200 visiting journalists and scholars.
In 2008 the center honored Geer with the Goldsmith Book Prize for In Defense of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns. The award is given to the academic book published in the last year that best fulfills the objective of improving government through an examination of the intersection between press, politics and public policy.
This fall Geer will continue his research on the news media’s influence on the electoral process, in general, and political advertising, in particular.
Media contact: Ann Marie Deer Owens, 615-322-NEWS
annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu