About

Mission

Guided by Ambassador Walter Annenberg’s vision that communication affects all aspects of the society and should be used in the public interest, the Center seeks to explore and expand the frontiers of leadership through a combination of research, writing, events, projects and courses. The Center will examine the ways in which theory, technology, regulation and practice can be used (or abused), and the ways in which leaders have performed and can perform at optimum levels – inspiring, empowering, managing and creating – in corporations, non-governmental organizations and the government. Based on both traditional values and cutting-edge research, the Center will seek to teach a new generation of leaders and to inspire, critique and improve the performance of those who are already having a major impact on society.

Our Team

Geoffrey Cowan
University Professor and
Annenberg Family Chair in Communication Leadership

Geoffrey Cowan is a University Professor and holder of the Annenberg Family Chair in Communication Leadership at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication, where he also directs the Center on Communication Leadership. He served as dean of the USC Annenberg School from 1996 – 2007 and recently completed service as a Fellow of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. In 2007, he was elected to be the Walter Lippman Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Before coming to USC, Cowan served under President Clinton as director of the Voice of America and director of the International Broadcasting Bureau. In other public service roles, Cowan served on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, chaired the Los Angeles commission that drafted the city’s ethics and campaign finance law, and chaired the California Bipartisan Commission on Internet Political Practices. He is an award-winning and best-selling author whose books include See No Evil: The Backstage Battle Over Sex and Violence on Television and The People v. Clarence Darrow: The Bribery Trial of America’s Greatest Lawyer. With Leroy Aarons, he co-wrote Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, a play about the tension between a free press and government secrecy that will be featured in a national tour during the 2007-08 season. He won a primetime Emmy in 1992 for his work as an executive producer of the Disney Channel movie Mark Twain & Me. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School and is married to Aileen Adams. They have two children, Gabriel and Mandy. Read more

Geoffrey Baum
Managing Director

Geoffrey Baum's career spans education, journalism and public service.
In addition to serving as managing director of the Center, he is assistant dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. Previously, he worked in Washington, DC as executive producer for C-SPAN, the public affairs cable television network. He has also worked as a writer and producer for public radio's Marketplace, Army, Navy and Air Force Times, and ABC News. From 1994-99, he was assistant vice president for marketing and public relations at Claremont McKenna College. He currently holds elective office as a member of the governing board of the Pasadena Area Community College District, which includes Pasadena City College. He also serves on the boards of the Armory Center for the Arts, the West Pasadena Residents Association, and the Claremont McKenna College Alumni Association. He is a former board member and president of the Pasadena Community Access Corporation, the city-chartered agency that manages the city's public access cable television station. Baum holds an M.A. in broadcast journalism from USC and a B.A. in economics and literature from Claremont McKenna College.

Debra Lawler
Assistant Director

Deb Lawler is the Assistant Director at the Center on Communication Leadership. Her responsibilities include oversight of all activities related to the Center’s fiscal operations and day-to-day project management. Deb’s previous experience includes a stint as Executive Assistant to the Dean at USC Annenberg where she managed the administrative operations of the Dean’s Suite.

Prior to coming to USC, Deb was a Senior Associate at Coopers & Lybrand, supervising the financial accounting operations of the Process Management Group including management of the billing administration for all RTC contracts in the Western Region and was personally responsible for government billings and collections in excess of $10 million. Deb is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Communication Management at the USC Annenberg School for Communication.

Kelsey Browne
Office Manager

Kelsey Browne returns to the Annenberg School after a brief hiatus as an assistant in the entertainment industry.  She graduated summa cum laude in 2007 with a double degree in Broadcast Journalism and International Relations, and a minor in French.  Highlights of her time at USC include studying abroad in Paris, serving as co-director of the Annenberg Ambassadors, coordinating the International Communication Studies program in Europe, and participating in President Steven Sample’s and University Professor Warren Bennis’ leadership class.  In addition to working at the Center on Communication Leadership, Kelsey is currently a member of her high school’s centennial committee.  She is planning on applying to law school in the next year or two.

Megan Baaske
Junior Fellow 2008-2009

Megan Baaske joins the Center on Communication Leadership after graduating in May 2008 summa cum laude from USC, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication and History. While at USC, Megan interned for California Common Cause, worked as a campaign researcher for Nels Ackerson For Congress, and spent a semester with the Huffington Post. She also worked for two years as a research assistant to Professor Peter Mancall as part of his ten year project to reconstruct the economy of the Colonia British America in the 17th century.  She co-wrote an article on media coverage of Hurricane Katrina, which she presented at the ISSA Conference at the University of Amsterdam in 2006 and is published in its proceedings. Megan is part of the Order of Troy and was one of only two university seniors to receive the Phi Beta Kappa Award.

Rebecca Shapiro
Junior Fellow 2008-2009

Rebecca Shapiro graduated in May 2008 from the USC Annenberg School for Communication with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Communication and a Minor in Advertising.  From 2006-2008, she worked as a research assistant for Dr. Stacy Smith, PhD. analyzing gender portrayals and hypersexuality in children’s television, R-rated films, Oscar nominated films for Best Picture, and the AFI’s ‘Greatest Films of All Time.’  During the summer and winter of 2006, she interned in the Public Relations Department of Diane von Furstenberg.  She also studied abroad in Costa Rica and Australia during her undergraduate tenure.  With a strong interest in photography and visual communication, she mentors underprivileged youth in Downtown Los Angeles by teaching documentary photography skills and helping youth develop their own documentary projects.