Geoffrey Cowan, University Professor and holder of the Annenberg Family Chair in Communication Leadership at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, has been an important force in the communication world as an academic leader, government official, author, television producer, and playwright. From 1996-2007, Cowan was dean of USC's Annenberg School, and currently directs the Center for Communication Leadership with a joint appointment in the Gould School of Law. He is involved in the work of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, which he founded, the Norman Lear Center, the Center on Communication Law and Policy, the Charles Annenberg Weingarten Program on Online Communities and the Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future. He taught communication law and policy at UCLA, where he was founding director of the Center for Communication Policy.

Before coming to USC, Dr. Cowan served under President Bill Clinton as director of Voice of America (VOA), the international broadcasting service of the U.S. Information Agency. He was also director of USIA's International Broadcasting Bureau. Cowan served on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), playing a key role in the development of National Public Radio. He also chaired the Los Angeles commission that drafted the city's ethics and campaign finance law. Cowan is the author of See No Evil: The Backstage Battle over Sex and Violence on Television (1980) and The People v. Clarence Darrow: The Bribery Trial of America's Greatest Lawyer (1993). With LeRoy Aarons, in 1991 he co-wrote Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, a play about the tension between a free press and government secrecy that was featured in a 22-city national tour during the 2007-2008 season. He received a primetime Emmy in 1992 for his role as executive producer of the television movie, "Mark Twain and Me" which was voted the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Outstanding Prime Time Program for Children.

To read Dr. Cowan‘s remarks upon installation as a Fellow, click here.