Faculty Media Training

In a 2-hour, hands-on session, we help faculty develop a media strategy tailored to their expertise and academic work.

For more than 20 years, Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett have been working to translate academic work into media: first as reporters and producers for public radio, and now as independent audio producers. They have created stories that featured academic research on national outlets (like in this piece on the acoustics of the Hagia Sophia, which was the most listened-to story of 2020 on NPR), developed relationships with professors who became leading experts on a topic (like Veena Dubal, whom Sam interviewed a dozen times about app-based contract work), and translated academic work into novel audio formats (like this documentary about buttons based on a book by Rachel Plotnick, and this podcast series about the research methods of humanities professors at the University of Washington). As Sam and Chris visit universities to perform their live audio show, they’re meeting with faculty to help them better communicate their work to the academic community, their administrations, media organizations, and the general public.

What’s Covered in the Workshop

  • Pitching stories, op-eds, research findings, and new work to traditional media

  • Transforming written work into other formats, particularly audio

  • Building relationships with news organizations and individual reporters

  • Positioning oneself as an expert for traditional media

  • Contextualizing and valorizing research for academic administrations and lawmakers

  • Honing bios, research summaries, book proposals, and descriptions of course offerings