Dr. Geoffrey Cowan

Biography

Geoffrey Cowan is a University Professor of Communication Law at USC Gould School of Law, where he holds a joint appointment with the USC Annenberg School for Communication and serves as the Annenberg Family Chair in Communication Leadership. He was the Dean from 1996 to 2007 and served as President of the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands from 2010 to 2016. Cowan founded the Annenberg Center for Communication Leadership and Policy and continues to direct it. He has also been the director of Voice of America, a position he was appointed to by President Bill Clinton. Additionally, Cowan served as the associate director of the United States Information Agency and was the director of the International Broadcasting Bureau. He founded the Center for Law and Social Policy, which represented civil rights groups and women's organizations in landmark FCC proceedings. A founding member of the Vera Institute of Justice's Police Assessment Resource Center Board, he was appointed by California Governor Gray Davis in 2001 to a bipartisan commission on Internet political practices. An accomplished television producer, Cowan received an Emmy Award as the executive producer of the film 'Mark Twain: Me.' He graduated from Harvard University with a BA and earned his LLB from Yale University. Cowan is the author of several scholarly writings and books including 'Let People Rule: Theodore Roosevelt's Birth of the Presidential Primary', 'People v. Clarence Darrow: Bribery Trial of America’s Greatest Lawyer', and 'See Evil: The Backstage Battle over Sex and Violence on Television.'

Research Interests