(Posted October 25, 2018)

Courtesy: Josh Scacco

Courtesy: Josh Scacco

Huntingdon, Pa. – On Monday, Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m., Joshua Scacco, a 2008 Juniata alumnus, will be returning to campus to give the G. Graybill Diehm Lecture in Political Science. Scacco’s lecture will take place in Alumni Hall, Brumbaugh Academic Center.  It is free and open to the public.

Scacco’s presentation will be about the challenges and opportunities of democratic life in the era of Donald Trump’s presidency with a focus on the press and citizens. The event coincides with the midterm elections for Congress, Governor of Pennsylvania and other local races that will occur on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018 in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

“I am excited about the opportunity to return to my alma mater and I am humbled to receive this invitation to speak to the Juniata community,” says Scacco.

Scacco currently serves as an assistant professor in the department of communication at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. As a professor and researcher, he specializes in political communication, media content and effects and quantitative research methods.

Until recently, Scacco served as an assistant professor of media theory and politics at Purdue University’s College of Liberal Arts. He has been featured on C-SPAN and WLFI-TV news on several occasions to speak about events and issues relating to presidential politics.

Scacco earned a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and has been published in the International Journal of Press/Politics, New Media & Society, the American Behavioral Scientist, the Journal of Electronic Media & Politics and the Journal of Political Science Education. Most recently, he published an article titled “Presidential communication in tumultuous times: insights into key shifts, normative implications, and research opportunities.”

In addition to the College’s politics and communication departments, the lecture is sponsored by the G. Graybill Diehm Lectureship in Political Science. Established in 1973, the lectureship honors the late G. Graybill Diehm of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Mr. Diehm gave 35 years of public service as a member of the State House of Representatives, served as Republican County Chairman, State Senator, Chief Clerk to the State Senate and top adviser of the Pennsylvania GOP Leaders.

 

--Written by Taylor Smallwood ’19-- 

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.