Faculty Media Impact Rankings Recognize Kent State for Sharing Research With the Public

A new survey that focuses on faculty involvement with the public through the news media recognizes Kent State University on its inaugural lists. The Faculty Media Impact Project, developed by the Center for a Public Anthropology, ranks social science departments at nearly 100 universities based on the number of times faculty members were cited in the news media.

Released last month and posted at http://facultyimpact.publicanthropology.org, the rankings “allow readers to assess the degree to which faculty at various universities and departments, especially those that receive public funding, share their research with the broad public,” said Rob Borofsky, Ph.D., director of the Center for a Public Anthropology.

The Faculty Media Impact Project is based on more than 50,000 search queries that involve more than 6,000 news sources relating to nearly 12,800 professors at 94 universities in the social sciences (anthropology, economics, political science, psychology and sociology). It examines the degree to which these faculty are cited in the Google News Archive over a six-year period, from 2006-2011. The project calculates which departments and universities had the highest citation averages in relations to federal funding.

“These rankings are very interesting because it looks at faculty citations in the public media, rather than citations in scholarly, academic journals,” said Todd Diacon, Kent State’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “The rankings indicate that our faculty members’ research has broad appeal and resonates with the general public. I salute our faculty as well as the university’s communications staff who help promote our faculty members’ great work.”

Kent State’s Department of Economics received the highest ranking for most media impact of the five Kent State departments cited in the Faculty Media Impact Project. It ranks 16 out of 94 universities.

Richard Kent, chair of Kent State’s Department of Economics, said receiving this ranking from the Faculty Media Impact Project is an honor.

“I think it just shows that the work the faculty in the economics department do is both interesting and important, and not just to academics, but also to the greater community,” Kent said.

Also included in the survey are Kent State’s Department of Anthropology ranking at 26, Department of Political Science ranking at 35, Department of Psychology ranking at 64 and Department of Sociology ranking at 92.

The Faculty Media Project also provides an overall university ranking, with Kent State coming in at 44, one spot above the University of Washington and one spot behind Johns Hopkins University.

For more information about the Faculty Media Impact Project, visit http://facultyimpact.publicanthropology.org.

For more information about Kent State’s academic departments, visit www.kent.edu/academics/colleges-and-schools.cfm.

Media Contacts:
Eric Mansfield, emansfie@kent.edu, 330-672-2797
Emily Vincent, evincen2@kent.edu, 330-672-8595