The School of Media and Public Affairs is excited about the addition of three new faculty members who will significantly expand the school’s expertise and scholarship in key media and public affairs disciplines, such as investigative journalism, multimedia reporting, and political communication.

Cheryl W. Thompson joins us from The Washington Post, where she has distinguished herself as an award-winning investigative journalist covering politics, crime and corruption. Her fearless reporting led to the prosecution and imprisonment of former Prince George's County (MD) executive Jack Johnson. Thompson has more than 25 years of newspaper reporting experience, including at The Gainesville Sun in Florida, the Los Angeles Daily News, the Chicago Tribune and The Kansas City Star. She arrived at The Washington Post in 1997, where she was a Metro Reporter and National Reporter before moving to the Investigative Unit. She also served as a White House Correspondent during a part of President Obama’s first term.

“Investigative skills will always be in demand,” Thompson said. “I can’t wait to share what I’ve learned over the years with my students.”

Cheryl W. Thompson

Thompson, who will continue to do investigative projects for The Washington Post, is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she holds a bachelor’s degree in speech communication and a master’s in journalism. She also has a certificate in Investigative Reporting from the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla. Thompson has been an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown and Howard universities, and the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. In 2002, Thompson was part of a team of Washington Post reporters awarded the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. She also is the recipient of two Salute to Excellence awards from the National Association of Black Journalists and a 2011 Emmy Award from the National Capital Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Imani M. Cheers is a former PBS NewsHour executive, where she managed a team of reporters, created a media literacy curriculum and directed a participatory multimedia journalism program for elementary, secondary and post-secondary students. She has 14 years of multimedia work under her belt, having produced music videos, commercials, documentary shorts and educational videos for a variety of purposes. Cheers started her career as a director and producer for Washington University in St. Louis television and has written for Newsweek and USA Today. She has also served as a producer and writer for Howard University Television. Cheers holds an undergraduate degree in Photography from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, as well as graduate degrees in African Studies and Research and in Mass Communications and Media Studies from Howard University. She also has a certificate in Women’s Studies from Howard University.

Imani M. Cheers

“I am thrilled to be working with a dynamic and eclectic group of experts and professionals at the School of Media and Public Affairs,” said Cheers. “I especially look forward to my interactions with very bright, talented students, honing their multimedia skills in an ever-changing media environment.”

Emily Thorson was most recently at the University of Pennsylvania, where she received her PhD in both Communication and Political Science. Her research explores how voters draw on information to form opinions about politics, and what the media can do to ensure that citizens are fully informed. Thorson’s current research focuses on how misinformation can affect attitudes even after it is successfully corrected by creating "belief echoes." She also holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Emily Thorson

All three new faculty members begin teaching at SMPA this fall.