Renowned political journalist and author Todd S. Purdum will become a senior fellow of the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, CCLP director Geoffrey Cowan announced today. Purdum is a senior writer at POLITICO and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He was formerly with The New York Times, where he worked for 23 years, covering politics from city hall to the White House. He also served as diplomatic correspondent and Los Angeles bureau chief.

“Todd’s expertise in covering everything from the personal to the practical in the American political system makes him an exceptional addition to our team,” Cowan said, “particularly as CCLP continues to explore ways to improve civic discourse and promote great journalism in an era when both are more important than ever.”

Purdum is a native of Macomb, Ill., and a graduate of Princeton University. He is the author of the book An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and he is currently writing a biography of Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Dee Dee Myers, the former Clinton White House press secretary and current Executive Vice President and Director of Worldwide Corporate Communications and Public Affairs at Warner Bros, and their two children.