Re-booting America’s Image in the World

The USC Center on Public Diplomacy is proud to host Ernest J. Wilson III, Dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication, for a presentation on "Rebooting America's Image in the World." Dean Wilson recently returned from Washington, D.C. where he served on the Presidential Transition Team for President-Elect Barack Obama. As part of the presidential transition, Dean Wilson led a team reviewing America's international broadcasting services, including the Voice of America and the Broadcasting Board of Governors, and advised the transition team working with the U.S. Department of State on public diplomacy issues. Dean Wilson will discuss his experiences serving on the Presidential Transition Team and will offer his assessment of the limits and potential for public diplomacy under the new administration as it seeks to re-cast America's image abroad.

About Dean Ernest J. Wilson III

Ernest James Wilson III, Ph.D., is Walter Annenberg Chair in Communication and dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California.

He is also a senior fellow at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, a joint project of USC Annenberg and the USC College’s School of International Relations, and an adjunct fellow at the Pacific Council on International Policy.

Dr. Wilson’s scholarship focuses on the convergence of communication and information technology, public policy and the public interest. He is also a student of the “information champions,” who are leaders of the information revolution around the world. His current work concentrates on the politics of global sustainable innovation in high-technology industries; on China-Africa relations; and the role of culture in U.S. national security policy.

In addition to his most recent books – The Information Revolution in Developing Countries and Negotiating the Net in Africa – Dr. Wilson co-edits the MIT Press series The Information Revolution and Global Politics and an MIT journal, Information Technologies and International Development.

Nominated by President Bill Clinton, Dr. Wilson is the ranking senior member of the board of directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He was reappointed to the CPB board by President Bush in 2004.

Prior to his appointment at USC Annenberg, Dr. Wilson was a senior research scholar at the University of Maryland, College Park, holding a joint appointment as professor in the Department of Government & Politics and in the Department of African-American Studies. From 1995 to 2002, Dr. Wilson was director of the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the university, and he remains a senior fellow of the Center.

Before joining the University of Maryland faculty in 1992, Dr. Wilson served with distinction on the faculties of the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania. At the University of Michigan, he was director of the Center for Research on Economic Development and an associate research scientist at the Institute for Public Policy Studies.

Dr. Wilson has served in several senior policy positions in the public and private sector. He was director of International Programs and Resources on the National Security Council at the White House (1993–1994); director of the Policy and Planning Unit, Office of the Director, U.S. Information Agency (1994); and deputy director of the Global Information Infrastructure Commission (1994–1995).

Dr. Wilson is the recipient of numerous research fellowships and awards, including an international affairs fellowship from the Council on Foreign Relations and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Originally from Washington, D.C., Dr. Wilson earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.A. from Harvard College. He is married to Francille Rusan Wilson, Ph.D., a labor and intellectual historian. They have two sons.