Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania
The Annenberg School for Communication is the communication school at the University of Pennsylvania. The school was established in 1958 by Wharton School alum Walter Annenberg as the Annenberg School of Communications. The name was changed to its current title in 1990.
History
created the Annenberg School of Communications in 1958. The school, whose first class began in 1959, was initially a master's-only program. Gilbert Seldes was the first dean at the school, serving from 1959 until 1963. George Gerbner, an advisor to communications commissions and a major contributor to cultivation theory, became dean in 1964. He held the post until 1989, refocusing the school away from an emphasis on professional training and toward research and theory. He founded the Cultural Indicators Project in 1967, measuring trends in television content and how it shaped perceptions of society. The Annenberg School launched its doctoral program in 1968. The school retained ownership of the Journal of Communication from 1974 to 1991, which was published by Penn while Gerbner was editor. Kathleen Hall Jamieson was dean from 1989 to 2003. In 1989, the Annenberg School and Oxford University Press published the four-volume International Encyclopedia of Communications, the first broad-based attempt to survey the entire communication field. In 1990, the school changed its name to Annenberg School for Communication. During Jamieson's deanship, the school received two large endowments from the Annenberg Foundation. In 1993, Walter and Leonore Annenberg, through their foundation, granted Penn $120 million to endow the school and establish the Annenberg Public Policy Center. In 2002, the Annenberg Foundation gave $100 million to the school for scholarships, faculty chairs, and classroom refurbishment. Also during this time, the Annenberg School suspended its master's program; prospective students can only apply and be admitted into their doctoral program. After Jamieson stepped down as dean in 2003, the school named Michael X. Delli Carpini to the position. His term was extended until 2018.In 2019, John Jackson became the new dean at Annenberg.
Academics
Annenberg School's faculty and staff primarily work in the following core research areas:
