Photo of Nicholas J. Cull

Nicholas
J.
Cull

Professor of Communication
Global Communication Policy Fellow, Center for Communication Leadership and Policy
A pioneer scholar and educator in the field of public diplomacy, Nick Cull is a historian of the role of mass communication in foreign policy.
Photo of Nicholas J. Cull
A pioneer scholar and educator in the field of public diplomacy, Nick Cull is a historian of the role of mass communication in foreign policy.
Expertise: 
History, Popular Culture, Public Diplomacy
Research and Practice Areas: 
Center Affiliation: 

Nicholas
J.
Cull

Professor of Communication
Global Communication Policy Fellow, Center for Communication Leadership and Policy

Tabs

Nicholas J. Cull is originally from the U.K. His BA (International History and Politics) and PhD (History) were both from the University of Leeds. He also studied at Princeton as a Harkness Fellow of the Commonwealth Fund of New York. He taught at Birmingham University and at University of Leicester where, as one of the U.K.’s youngest full professors, he launched the Center on American Studies in 1997.

Moving to USC in 2005, he was the founding director of the master's program in public diplomacy and part of the team recognized by the Department of State with the Benjamin Franklin award. From 2004 to 2019, Cull served as president of the International Association for Media and History. He has provided advice and training in public diplomacy to a number of foreign ministries and cultural agencies around the world including those of the U.S., U.K., Canada, Mexico, Switzerland and the Netherlands. His many books include Public Diplomacy: Foundations for Global Engagement in the Digital Age (Polity, 2019).

Awards and honors:

Outstanding Academic Text, Choice Magazine (2008).
Outstanding Academic Text, Choice Magazine (1995).

Books

The Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy, co-editor (Routledge, 2020).

Public Diplomacy: Foundations for Global Engagement in the Digital Age, author (Polity, 2019).

Projecting Tomorrow: Science Fiction and Popular Cinema, co-author (I.B. Tauris, 2013).

The Decline and Fall of the United States Information Agency: American public diplomacy 1989-2001, author (Palgrave, 2012).

Projecting Empire: Imperialism and Popular Cinema, co-author (I.B. Tauris, 2009).

The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945-1989, author (Cambridge University Press, 2008).

Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500-present, co-editor (ABC-Clio, 2003).

Selling War: The British Propaganda Campaign Against American “Neutrality” in World War II, author (Oxford University Press, 1995).

Courses

PUBD 502: Historical and Comparative Approaches to Public Diplomacy
PUBD 504: Global Issues and Public Diplomacy