W&M faculty experts often called upon by national media
In July, Newsweek’s cover story on the “Creativity Crisis” featured research by Kyung-Hee Kim, assistant professor at the School of Education. Kim’s research shows that while American IQs are rising with each generation, the country’s creativity scores are trending downward. Later that month, English Professor Terry Meyers was featured in the Washington Post. Meyers has been researching whether an old house on the edge of campus could be the 18th-Century Bray School. It could mean the building is the nation’s oldest surviving schoolhouse for black children, free and enslaved. Meyers and his research were also the focus of a May article in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Other prominent placements include quotes from Robert Diaz, associate professor of marine science at VIMS, on the Gulf Oil Spill in the New York Times; Wendy Livingston, senior assistant dean of admission, in a Washington Post article about on-campus student interviews; Christine Nemacheck, associate professor of government, in an Associated Press article about soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan; Economics Professor Will Hausman in a Wall Street Journal story on the Dow Jones Industrial Average; Business Professor Ronald Sims discussed corporate ethics with the Wall Street Journal; and Jeremy Stoddard, assistant professor of history, in a Washington Post report on a local school district’s decision to cancel a mock debate about the Taliban. In June, Deborah Hewitt, associate professor of finance and economics at the School of Business, explained to CBS Moneywatch how the oil spill will cost taxpayers.
Many members of the William & Mary community also contributed their own opinion pieces to national media outlets. Dean of Admission Henry Broaddus contributed multiple “Answer Sheet” blogs to the Washington Post’s education section; Nate Oman, associate professor law, wrote a piece for the Washington Times about the auto bailout; Law Professor Alan Meese published an op-ed in the Huffington Post and co-authored an article with Oman for National Review Online; Economics Professors Bob Archibald and David Feldman published articles in both the Chronicle of Higher Education and the annual college guide issue of Forbes Magazine; and History Professor Scott Nelson was a regular resource for a number of media outlets looking for historical perspective of the economic crisis, including a contribution to the N.Y Times blog “Room for Debate.”
Faculty and staff were not limited to print and electronic publications. Several appeared on national television and radio segments, including Music Professor Stephanie Nakasian on NPR’s “Fresh Air” program; Economics Professor Jennifer Mellor on Fox News; Anthropology Professor Barbara King on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show; and multiple appearances by Visiting Government and Public Policy Professor Lawrence Wilkerson on MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” and “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
But perhaps the most quoted William & Mary expert over the past year has been Government Professor George Grayson. The Mexico scholar was quoted in more than 65 publications including virtually every major newspaper across the country. Between January and August 2010 he was quoted nine times in national Associated Press stories, five times in the Wall Street Journal and three times in the L.A. Times and Washington Post. An August article by the AP on the death of Mexican drug lord Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel quoted Grayson and was picked up by numerous outlets, including Forbes Magazine and U.S. News and World Report.
