The USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism announced journalism professor Philip Seib has been appointed the new director of the Center as of July 1.
Seib will continue the work of professor Geoffrey Wiseman, who is stepping down as director to resume his full-time faculty teaching position in the School of International Relations at the University of Southern California.
The Center on Public Diplomacy was established in August 2003 as a partnership between USC Annenberg and the USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences' School of International Relations. CPD has led the way in the emerging field of public diplomacy. The Center established the first master’s program in the country in public diplomacy, and in 2006 CPD introduced the first summer program for mid-career practitioners.
“Since its inception, the Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School has become the definitive destination for practitioners and international leaders in public diplomacy, while pursuing an innovative and cutting-edge research agenda,” said USC Annenberg Dean Ernest J. Wilson III. “Geoff Wiseman provided key leadership at an important moment in the life of the center, so that today we are widely consulted by government agencies, non-government organizations and private firms from around the world. USC Annenberg is proud of our role in these efforts and we are dedicated to advancing this important field.”
"There is no better time or place for innovation, leadership and debate in public diplomacy than at USC's Center for Public Diplomacy," said Howard Gillman, dean of the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences. "The partnership between the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and USC College continues to bring together prominent scholars from each of the schools to tackle challenges of global importance, including past director Geoff Wiseman and incoming director Phil Seib."
As a professor of journalism and public diplomacy, Seib has concentrated on the linkages between media, war and terrorism. He also holds an appointment as a Professor of International Relations and is a prolific author. Seib is the author or editor of 18 books, including New Media and the New Middle East and The Al Jazeera Effect, published in 2007 and 2008, respectively. In September, his newest book, Toward a New Public Diplomacy: Redirecting U.S. Foreign Policy, will be published. He is also the series editor of the Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication and is co-editor of the journal Media, War, and Conflict, published by Sage.
In addition, Seib has served as USC Annenberg’s principal project director and liaison to American University in Dubai, assisting the Mohammed Bin Rashid School for Communication and Journalism with curriculum development.
In 2008, USC received one of four inaugural Benjamin Franklin Awards for Public Diplomacy from the U.S. State Department in recognition of the university’s teaching, training and research in public diplomacy.
“Under Geoff Wiseman’s directorship, CPD has become an ambitious and productive leader in the public diplomacy research and scholarship community,” said Wilson. “We are thankful for his commitment and dedication, and pleased he will continue to teach in the School of International Relations.”
About the USC Center for Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School for Communication
The USC Center on Public Diplomacy seeks to lead a new debate about the field of public diplomacy by providing innovative scholarly research, policy analysis and professional training on public diplomacy worldwide and thereby contribute to dialogue and cooperation between diverse global socio-political entities and foreign publics.
