Professor Diana Owen

Diana Owen, Professor, Communication, Culture and Technology

Diana Owen is Professor of political science teaching in the Communication, Culture, and Technology graduate program. She is the Director and Principal Investigator of the Civic Education Research Lab at Georgetown University (https://cerl.georgetown.edu/ (new window)). She served as Director of Georgetown’s American Studies Program for almost a decade. She is the author of Media Messages in American Presidential Elections (Greenwood, 1991), New Media and American Politics (with Richard Davis, Oxford, 1998), and American Government and Politics in the Information Age (with David Paletz and Timothy Cook, 5th edition, 2021). She is the co-editor of The Internet and Politics: Citizens, Voters, and Activists (with Sarah Oates and Rachel Gibson, Routledge, 2006); Making a Difference: The Internet and Elections in Comparative Perspective (with Richard Davis, Stephen Ward, and David Taras, Lexington, 2009); and Internet Election Campaigns in the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan (with Shoko Kiyohara and Kazuhiro Mawshima, 2019). She is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters in the fields of civic education and engagement, media and politics, political socialization, elections and voting behavior, and political psychology/sociology. She has conducted studies funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Center for Civic Education, The Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the United States Department of State, the Bill of Rights Institute, Google, Storyful, and others. She is the recipient of competitive grants from the U.S. Department of Education, including a Supporting Effective Educator Development Grant for the James Madison Legacy Project, the Presidential and Congressional Academies grant, and an Institute for Education Sciences grant for the Project Citizen Research Project. These grants fund programs and research on civic education for high need students nationwide. Her current research explores the relationship between civic education and political engagement over the life course and new media’s role in politics. She has been an American Political Science Association Congressional Media Fellow. She is the recipient of the Daniel Roselle Award of the Middle States Council on the Social Studies.