Shorenstein Center announces spring 2018 Fellows

The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, based at Harvard Kennedy School, is pleased to announce the appointment of its spring 2018 fellows, and the A.M. Rosenthal Writer-in-Residence.

“This semester we will be joined by experienced journalists and practitioners who focus on some of today’s most pressing issues: race relations, the urban/rural divide, the role of algorithms in society, and climate change, among other topics,” said Shorenstein Center Director Nicco Mele.

The A.M. Rosenthal Writer-in-Residence program brings nonfiction writers to Harvard to work on writing projects, teach student workshops, and interact with the Harvard community. Jelani Cobb will be the A.M. Rosenthal Writer-in-Residence for spring 2018. He is the Ira A. Lipman Professor of Journalism at Columbia University and a staff writer for The New Yorker, where he writes about race, politics, history, and culture.

Joan Shorenstein Fellows spend the academic semester researching and writing a paper, participating in events, and interacting with students, faculty, and the Harvard community. The spring 2018 Joan Shorenstein Fellows are:

• Elizabeth Arnold is a former NPR Political Correspondent, an Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Alaska, and the producer of arcticprofiles.com.
• Dipayan Ghosh is a fellow at New America, where he works on digital privacy, artificial intelligence, and civil rights. A computer scientist by training, Ghosh until recently worked on global privacy and public policy issues at Facebook.
• Genevieve Roth is a founding partner of Invisible Hand, a social impact and events agency that focuses on the intersection of media, women’s empowerment, and social justice.
• Sarah Smarsh is a freelance journalist and former professor of nonfiction writing who covers politics and economic inequality for The Guardian, the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, and others from her home state of Kansas.

The Entrepreneurship Fellows program, established in fall 2016, invites experienced technology entrepreneurs to provide guidance and mentorship to Harvard students. Hossein Derakhshan is a joint fellow with the MIT Media Lab and the Shorenstein Center for Spring 2018. He is an Iranian-Canadian writer and researcher who focuses on the long-term socio-political impacts of media and technology.

The Walter Shorenstein Media and Democracy Fellowship, established in 2013, brings high-profile figures at the forefront of media, politics, and policy to the Kennedy School to work on timely issues. Tom Wheeler, Walter Shorenstein Media and Democracy Fellow for the 2017–18 academic year, served as the Chairman of the FCC from 2013 to 2017 under President Obama.