Phyllis Kaniss was the executive director of the

American Academy of Political and Social Science The American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS) 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, Swarthmor ...

. Born in 1951 in Philadelphia, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

and a Ph.D. in Regional Science from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. In 1999 Kaniss created the Student Voices Project, an initiative sponsored by the

Annenberg Public Policy Center The Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) 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., and Philadelphia, where the University of Pennsy ...

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 Edward Gene Rendell (; born January 5, 1944) is an American politician, author, and former prosecutor who served as the 45th governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011. He previously served as chair of the national Democratic Party from 1999 to 2 ...

and

Frank Rizzo Francis Lazarro Rizzo (October 23, 1920 – July 16, 1991) was an American police officer and politician. He served as commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) from 1967 to 1971 and mayor of Philadelphia from 1972 to 1980. He wa ...

, 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.

Bibliography

*''The Media and the Mayor's Race: The Failure of Urban Political Reporting''(Indiana University Press, 1995) *''Making Local News'' (University of Chicago Press, 1991)

External links

Official Bio
from the American Academy of Political and Social Science
American Academy of Political and Social Science
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaniss, Phyllis American sociologists American women sociologists University of Pennsylvania alumni Cornell University alumni 2010 deaths 1951 births 21st-century American women