View video: Public Voices program diversifies the op-ed landscape
Cornell's voice is being heard worldwide a bit louder than before thanks to the efforts of 20 Cornell faculty members serving as Fellows of the Public Voices program. Included in this group are associate professors Claudia Fischbach-Teschl and Chris Hernandez of Cornell’s Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering. Fischbach-Teschl has placed op-ed articles on cancer research in the Pacific-Standard magazine and Scientific American, while Hernandez, who is also an associate professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, published an op-ed article in The Hill calling for an increase in NIH spending on common musculoskeletal diseases affecting the public’s ability to work.
The Public Voices program is a spinoff of the national Op-Ed Project, which has enlisted intellectual, business, and social organizations to recruit women and members of underrepresented minorities and provide them with resources to present their ideas in national media. With a goal of increasing the diversity of major public opinion forums, the program supports faculty in making their writing accessible to broader audiences by offering tools and contacts to sell themselves to mainstream media editors. Since Cornell assembled the group in November 2014, fellows have placed op-ed articles in newspapers and online publications and offered their expertise in radio and television interviews.
Support for the Public Voices Fellowship program comes from the Office of the Provost and the President’s Council of Cornell Women.
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