The Public Voices Fellowship is a year-long program available to faculty members from groups largely unrepresented in the news media. The Public Voices Fellowship is an initiative launched by The OpEd Project in partnership with leading universities and foundations nationwide.

This is the U of I’s second year of involvement with the program. It’s run through the office of Barbara Wilson, executive vice president and vice president for academic affairs.

This year, 20 faculty members will be participating from the entire U of I System. The four LAS faculty participating in the fellowship include Karen Flynn in gender and women’s studies and African American studies; Alexandra Harmon-Threatt in entomology; Isabel Molina-Guzmán in Latina/Latino studies and media and cinema studies and associate dean for diversity and inclusion in the College of LAS; and Leslie Reagan in history.

Over the course of the year, fellows will be assigned to work with veteran journalist mentors for one-on-one coaching. They’ll have periodic opportunities to join calls with public thinkers and influencers and media members at places such as CNN, The New York Times, Wikipedia, and more. Participants will receive customized alerts and support, and they will participate in four cohort sessions (through Zoom) where they meet and develop a network of peers, including the OpEd Project’s network of journalist mentors.

“The goal is to dramatically increase the public impact of our nation's top underrepresented thinkers, and to ensure our ideas help shape the important conversations of our age,” the Op-Ed Project said in an announcement about the program. “The root problem is not a lack of knowledge or experience, but a culture in which minority voices (especially women) rarely have the inside information, high-level support and inside connections to become influential on a large scale. The OpEd Project has successfully led programs with scores of major organizations and universities, and we have had stunning results.”