Public Policy Fellows | LSU Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs

Public Policy Fellows

This Public Policy Fellows program is central to the Reilly Center’s mission – to elevate our level of public discourse and generate dialogue about new ideas and information.

The program launched in 2001, with the goal of informing Louisiana’s local academic communities and political leaders on current public policy issues. To this end, the program brought in internationally recognized public policy experts whose research focused on relevant current issues. Fellows typically spent three to five days on campus and in the local community.

  • Within the university setting, participants lectured, worked with students and faculty on research, and engaged with university officials in a variety of ways ranging from debate and exchange of ideas to guidance on specific projects.
  • Within communities, fellows met with business leaders, organization directors, and public officials on contemporary issues impacting Louisiana citizens and public policy.
  • They also gave at least one public lecture, and their visits concluded with the publication and subsequent availability of a paper.

 

Learn About Past Policy Fellows

 


2022

Katie Knobloch, Ph.D.

Katie Knobloch

Katie Knobloch, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies and the Associate Director of the Center for Public Deliberation at Colorado State University. Her teaching and research focus on public participation and deliberative democracy, particularly the design and impact of community engagement programs. She earned a B.A. and M.M.C. from the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University and Ph.D. from the the Department of Communication from the University of Washington. She has received National Science Foundation funding to study the expansion of the Citizens' Initiative Review and the implementation of deliberative pedagogy in chemistry classrooms and has led the development of local programs that center underrepresented communities in public decision making. Her work has appeared in The Journal of Applied Communication Research, Political Studies, American Politics Research, Public Administration, and The International Journal of Communication. With John Gastil, she is the author of Hope for Democracy: How Citizens Can Bring Reason Back into Politics (Oxford, 2020).

As the 2021 Public Policy Fellow, Dr. Knobloch is spearheading The Community Collaborative: By the Community, For the Community. The Community Collaborative is a community capacity building project designed to enhance citizens' ability to actively engage in community planning and decision making for the betterment of local well-being. For more information click here.