Nancy Karibjanian, a veteran broadcast journalist and University of Delaware alumna who also has taught communication at UD for more than a decade, has been named director of the University’s Center for Political Communication (CPC).

Founded in 2009, the multidisciplinary CPC was created to study and teach about the information technology revolution’s effect on campaigns for public office and policy debates — a revolution that emerged in the 2004 presidential race and had transformed campaigns by the 2008 election cycle.

In the years since its launch, the nonpartisan center has gained prominence for its research, public outreach and its numerous programs that encourage student engagement in national and global politics.

Karibjanian credited Ralph Begleiter, the CPC’s founding director, with establishing a “solid and vibrant” center. Begleiter, Rosenberg Professor of Communication and Distinguished Journalist in Residence, has stepped down as the center’s director and will retire from UD in January.

“What Ralph has created is a center that is always able to respond to whatever major issues and trends are emerging in American society and politics,” she said. “I want to continue this legacy, and I’m thrilled to be among so many enthusiastic and intelligent people associated with the CPC.”

Karibjanian, who earned her bachelor’s degree in communication in 1980, has been an adjunct instructor in the Department of Communication since 2003, teaching classes in broadcast news writing and field production.

She has 30 years of experience in broadcast journalism, including positions in anchoring, reporting, producing and staff management. She was one of a core group of journalists who founded Delaware Public Media and launched Delaware’s first in-state NPR station in 2012.

Karibjanian has covered presidential campaigns and elections and has interviewed members of Congress, governors, corporate leaders and other key newsmakers.

She has begun her position with the CPC during an especially busy fall semester. The center is hosting its National Agenda speaker series with a focus this year on the presidential election, which will include an evening of gubernatorial and congressional Delaware Debates and a student Election Central event on election night in November.

“I’ve been involved in the debates in other years as a questioner, and this year I’ll be the moderator,” Karibjanian said. “National Agenda is a series that really taps into important issues, and issues that are important to the age group of our students. It’s in wonderful hands under the leadership of Lindsay Hoffman,” associate director of the CPC and associate professor of communication.

National Agenda and the CPC’s other major speaker series, Global Agenda, have brought key policy makers, journalists, authors and others to UD to discuss a wide variety of critical issues, from race in the United States to the influence of social media in world affairs.