Media contact: Martin A Mbugua, (302) 831-8749, [mbugua@udel.edu]

The University of Delaware is creating a new multidisciplinary Center for Political Communication to study and teach about the information technology revolution's effect on campaigns for public office and policy debates.

The revolution, which emerged in the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign and more fully in 2008, involves the use of people-to-people networking technologies enabling candidates and policy advocates to influence and react to public opinion more quickly than ever. A major goal is to encourage student engagement in national and global politics.

UD's new Center for Political Communication (CPC) consolidates faculty expertise in emerging communication technologies, encourages research at the intersection of politics, policy and technology, and offers public and undergraduate programs around that intersection. Applications of these techniques are in use not only in the United States, but also by political actors around the world, in both democratic and non-democratic environments.

“Political communication is an emerging field of great importance, as Americans saw a transformation of political campaigns through the use of new digital technologies during the 2008 presidential election,” UD President Patrick Harker said. “The University of Delaware is uniquely positioned to provide leadership in this area and is proud to announce this new center.”

Among the anticipated activities of the center are:

-- Development of the next generation of political leadership, informed by experience of the past, technologies of the future and vital issues focus. Programs will include faculty-student mentorships and research collaborations, as well as internships in campaign management and messaging.

-- Research colloquia focused on how new technologies build student participation

-- Cross-disciplinary research featuring faculty/faculty and faculty/student teams

-- Public political communication programs focused on “politics, policy and the new technologies” featuring major national figures, with the first of these to formally inaugurate the center in spring 2010.

-- Laying the foundation to study international use of the new technologies, as well as visual communication and messaging in the political arena

-- Launching an ongoing Delaware Public Opinion Poll that breaks new ground but complements the work now undertaken by the UD Center for Applied Demography and Survey Research in College of Education and Public Policy and the political science department's budding relationships with national polling organizations

-- Launching a new “National Agenda” speaker series, focusing on domestic issues in a manner similar to UD's long-running “Global Agenda” series

-- Developing a political communication certificate program for career professionals in business and politics in the U.S. and democracies abroad, inviting a select class of students for a short, intensive program experiencing and analyzing new technologies used in campaigns and elections in the United States.

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