Award-winning editor Kit Rachlis has been appointed a 2009-2010 Senior Fellow of USC Annenberg’s Center on Communication Leadership and Policy (CCLP). As a Senior Fellow, he will help lead a series of discussions and projects in the area of “Arts, Politics & Society.”
Rachlis joins CCLP after nearly a decade as editor-in-chief of Los Angeles magazine. Under his leadership, Los Angeles received seven nominations for National Magazine Awards and won 39 gold medals from the City and Regional Magazine Association.
Praised as a “writer’s editor” known for building a “constituency for a magazine about ideas,” Rachlis previously served as arts editor of the Boston Phoenix, arts and executive editor of The Village Voice, editor-in-chief of L.A. Weekly and senior projects editor at the Los Angeles Times. While at the Los Angeles Times, he edited articles that went on to win a Pulitzer Prize, the Ernie Pyle Award, and the Livingston Award.
“Kit Rachlis is an outstanding editor and community observer,” said Geoffrey Cowan, USC University Professor and director of the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. “He has an important perspective on the unique challenges and opportunities facing Los Angeles, particularly those stemming from our role as a leading cultural center. We are delighted that he will be able to use this post to explore new forms of arts journalism; contribute to CCLP’s blog; and help run various public events.”
Rachlis has served on the boards of the Association of Alternative Newspapers, PEN USA, and the American Society of Magazine Editors. His writing has appeared in several anthologies, most recently Empty Nest: 31 Parents Tell the Truth About Relationships, Love, and Freedom After the Kids Fly the Coop (Hyperion).
“Los Angeles continues to be the world’s most exciting laboratory to explore innovations in the arts, media, politics and society,” Rachlis said. “I am honored to join Geoff Cowan and his team at USC’s Center on Communication Leadership and Policy to explore these frontiers and find new ways to connect LA’s diverse communities through new forms of journalism in the arts and other fields.”
About the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy
Based at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy conducts research and organizes courses, programs, seminars and symposia for scholars, students, policymakers and working professionals to prepare future leaders in journalism, communication and other related fields. CCLP focuses its activities in two areas: The Role of Media in a Democracy and Communication Leadership. Current projects include Public Policy and the Future of News; New Models for News; The Constitution and the Press; Media and Political Discourse; Children’s Media and Ethics; Women and Communication Leadership; and Photographic Empowerment.
