Phyllis Kaniss was the Executive Director of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

American Academy of Political and Social Science

The American Academy of Political and Social Science was founded in 1889 to promote progress in the social sciences. Sparked by Professor Edmund J. James and drawing from members of the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, and Bryn Mawr College, the Academy sought to...

. Born in 1951 in Philadelphia, she received her B.A degree from the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

 and a Ph.D in Regional Science from Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

.

In 1999 Kaniss created the Student Voices Project, an initiative sponsored by the Annenberg Public Policy Center

Annenberg Public Policy Center

The Annenberg Public Policy Center is a center for the study of public policy at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. It has offices in Washington, D.C...

 that works with urban school systems to encourage youth civic involvement. Kaniss served as Assistant Dean for the Annenberg School for Communications and taught courses on local news media and urban politics and policy. Her book, The Media and the Mayor's Race: The Failure of Urban Political Reporting, an account of how the media covered the 1991 mayoral race involving Edward G. Rendell and Frank Rizzo

Frank Rizzo

Francis Lazarro "Frank" Rizzo, Sr. was an American police officer and politician. He served two terms as mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from January 1972 to January 1980; he was Police Commissioner for four years prior to that.-Police Commissioner:Rizzo joined the Philadelphia Police...

, won the 1995 Bart Richards Award for media criticism. Kaniss also published numerous Op-Eds in newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer and New York Times. Kaniss died December 17, 2010 after a long battle with cancer.

External links

• Official Bio from the American Academy of Political and Social Science
• American Academy of Political and Social Science