TIP/End of the decade experts
TO: Editors, news directors
FROM: Stacy Forster, University Communications, 608-262-0930
RE: TIP/END OF THE DECADE EXPERTS
On Jan. 1, 2000, CD players were still the music accessory of choice, George Bush was governor of Texas, Barack Obama was a member of the Illinois state senate, Osama bin Laden had yet to become a household name and “Survivor” was still a band from the 1980s, not a phenomenon that revolutionized reality television.
With the decade now winding to a close, the University of Wisconsin–Madison has a number of experts who can reflect on and discuss how U.S. policy and politics, popular culture and technology have evolved during the last 10 years:
- Jeremi Suri, professor of history, 608-263-1852, suri@wisc.edu. Suri is an expert on foreign policy, politics, war, terrorism, foreign interventions, international leaders, military affairs and strategy. He can comment on the decade’s battle against terrorism, the lasting effects of the 9/11 terror attacks and U.S. involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Charles Franklin, professor of political science, 608-263-2022, franklin@polisci.wisc.edu. Franklin is the co-founder of Pollster.com, a Web site that provides polling data to national media and the public. He can provide an analysis of politics in the century’s first decade, as well as U.S. public opinion on the events of the 2000s.
- Kurt D. Squire, professor of curriculum and instruction, 608-263-4672, kurt.squire@gmail.com. Squire is the founder of Joystick101, a blog that studies games and gaming culture with an emphasis on learning. He is an expert on video games, as well as mobile media and contemporary culture, and can address changes in technology. See also: http://joystick101.org/blog/
- Kathleen Bartzen Culver, who teaches in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, 608-263-3396, kbculver@wisc.edu, or Greg Downey, professor of journalism and mass communication and library and information studies, 608-225-3809, gdowney@wisc.edu. Culver is an expert on digital communication, social media, media ethics, magazines and marketing strategy, while Downey, director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is a historian of information and communication technology. They can address changes to media over the decade, especially the rise of social networking.
- Jonathan Gray, associate professor of media and cultural studies, jagray3@wisc.edu. Gray is an expert on contemporary television and can talk about television, blockbuster films and pop culture of the 2000s.
- Dietram Scheufele, professor of life sciences communication, 608-262-1614, scheufele@wisc.edu. Scheufele studies issues related to public opinion and technology and can discuss changes in the information and communication environment. Scheufele can also address such developments as nanotechnology and biofuels, how they’re bringing other changes and how attitudes toward these new technologies are shifting.
- Sean Carroll, professor of molecular biology and genetics, 608-262-6191, sbcarrol@wisc.edu. Carroll’s research focuses on the genes that control animal body patterns and play major roles in the evolution of animal diversity. He is available to talk about the second golden age of evolutionary science and the intelligent design movement.
Visit our Experts Guide to find more UW–Madison experts.