The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is pleased to announce the Spring 2024 cohort of Shorenstein Fellows.
Shorenstein Fellows join the center for a semester or year of research, events, and engagement with HKS students, faculty, and the wider university community. This semester’s fellows are working on research related to healthy democracy, from philanthropy to citizen engagement and local news.
Alison King | Goldsmith Fellow (also a concurrent resident fellow at the Harvard IOP)
Alison King is an award-winning journalist with over 30 years of experience in the broadcasting industry. She spent most of her career covering politics in New England including leading the local, state and regional political coverage for NBC Boston/NECN from 1995 until her retirement from TV in March of 2023. She has covered seven presidential elections and interviewed every Republican and Democratic presidential candidate since 1996. King has also reported and produced several documentaries. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Colgate University and a Master of Arts in Journalism from New York University. She and her husband live in Boston and have two children.
While at the Shorenstein Center, King will be researching the impact of the collapse of local political journalism on the conduct of presidential primary campaigns.
K. Russell DeGraff | Joan Shorenstein Fellow
K. Russell DeGraff spent nearly two decades on Capitol Hill, culminating in 12 years as the chief climate and technology advisor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. DeGraff played a key role in helping Congress architect, enact, explain and enforce significant legislation. He also helped form coalitions and lead negotiations to enact policies and laws spanning administrations from different parties, reflecting his skill in bipartisan collaboration. DeGraff’s work included pivotal contributions to President Biden’s “Investing in America” jobs strategy, featuring landmark laws like the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS & Science Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Before his advisory role to Speaker Pelosi, DeGraff served as the Legislative Director and Assistant to Congressman Mike Doyle, focusing on sectors such as technology, healthcare, and consumer protection. Prior to working on the Hill, he was a Policy Analyst at Consumer Reports and was a Truman Scholar from Butler University. The focus of DeGraff’s Shorenstein Fellowship will be on the challenges American voters face in understanding how legislation in Congress affects them, and how they can engage with or benefit from these laws.
Taylor Holden | Joan Shorenstein Fellow
Taylor Holden is the CEO of One for Democracy, a funding network that invests in election excellence, voter empowerment, and civil society. As a longtime organizer and strategist, Holden has spent most of her career working behind the scenes to radically resource community leaders and candidates who provide aid, inspire civic engagement, and shift policy to meaningfully improve people’s lives.
Holden has served as Senior Advisor to a number of prominent families and funders, advising their civic and political giving. In this capacity, she shepherded significant funds to invest in election modernization, rights restoration for formerly incarcerated people, nonprofit journalism and community-owned media in areas devastated by the decimation of local newsrooms, efforts to foster civic culture and social cohesion in every state, and much more. During this time, she also served on the steering committees of numerous ballot initiatives to raise wages, protect access to reproductive care, and increase transparency for local law enforcement.
Before moving into strategic advising, Holden worked on President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012, conducted voter protection activities in Texas in 2013, and served as a three-time trainer at the New Politics Forum at the University of Texas at Austin. While at the Shorenstein Center, she will research and report on the current state of American democracy philanthropy and how to shift it to adequately address intersecting challenges facing communities, elected officials, and institutions.
Additionally, 2023-24 Walter Shorenstein Media and Democracy Fellows Keri Putnam, Julia Angwin, and Yevgenia Albats and Schuster Media and Technology Fellow Brandi Collins-Dexter will continue their work at the Shorenstein Center for their full-year appointments.
To learn more about the Shorenstein Fellowship program and apply to be a fellow visit shorensteincenter.org/joan-shorenstein-fellowship.
