Dr. John Ryan, Associate Professor of Communication and Media and Political Science and the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies in Communication and Media, has been chosen as the new Faculty Director of the UMICH Votes Coalition!
The UMICH Votes Coalition is the University of Michigan's non-partisan voter education and engagement effort. This multidisciplinary group of campus leaders contributes their specific expertise and shared passion to activate and facilitate student civic engagement.
Dr. Ryan's research agenda is centered on political communication with a focus on campaign communication, social influence, and the news media. His latest co-authored books and monographs are Partisan Hostility and American Democracy: Explaining Political Divisions and When They Matter (University of Chicago Press), Constructing Political Expertise in the News (Cambridge University Press), Examining Motivations in Interpersonal Communication Experiments (Cambridge University Press), and The Other Divide: Polarization and Disengagement in American Politics (Cambridge University Press). His research has appeared in journals such as American Journal of Political Science, American Political Science Review, The Journal of Politics, Nature Human Behavior, and Public Opinion Quarterly.
When asked to comment on his new appointment, Dr. Ryan said, "For my part, it's great when you get to join a team that has been so successful. As I've been meeting with everyone these last few weeks, I've come to appreciate the enormous time and effort that it takes to produce the high turnout rates that the university is so proud of. We often hear about the importance of interdisciplinary work and bringing together students, faculty, staff and professionals and I've never seen a better example of that model than UMich Votes."
Congratulations, Dr. Ryan!
