I’m an incoming assistant professor of journalism and communications at Stony Brook University, and I do a lot of research about mass media.
Prior to my current appointment, I served for a number of years as the managing editor for an academic consortium that brought together scholars from war-affected regions and military veteran students to study Middle East conflict together, and as an outreach scholar for the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Arizona. After moving to New York City, I was appointed Director of Communications for Heterodox Academy.
I am currently a columnist with The Guardian U.S. Prior to that, I served as a columnist for Al-Jazeera America and then Salon. I’ve also published freelance work with a number of prominent media outlets to include the New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Nation, New Republic, Columbia Journalism Review, NBC Think, Newsweek and beyond. I’m regularly tapped by news outlets to help contextualize current events, including spots with NPR, Wall Street Journal, CNN, USA Today, Slate, Chronicle of Higher Education, Voice of America and many more.
Succeeding at these types of public engagement works very different muscles than communicating with specialists. And for many, it can be hard to know where or how to start. The series that follows will provide some advice for scholars who are interested in doing more public-facing work.