Our Purpose

These are difficult times in the United States. Trust in people and institutions is declining. Our democracy is under serious strain.

In light of this, we have created this Institute as a way to disseminate high-quality and consistently nonpartisan information to the American public around issues of societal well-being, democracy promotion, and news literacy.


Our Name

The CONNORS INSTITUTE is named for the late Thomas Connors, a longtime editor for the Journal of Commerce newspaper and an advocate for disability rights in the 1960s and 1970s in Fairfax, Virginia.


Our People


DIRECTOR

Lawrence M. Eppard

Shippensburg University

CO-DIRECTOR

Michael Anthony Deas

Northwestern University/fmr. Chicago Tribune

DEMOCRACY LAB SUPERVISOR

Thomas Hatvany

Shippensburg University

DEMOCRACY LAB SENIOR ANALYSTS

Niel Brasher

Shippensburg University

Erik Nelson

Brigham Young University

DEMOCRACY LAB RESEARCH FELLOWS

Katie Bonomo

Jillian Carley

Kayla Dalhouse

Madison Laughman

Annie Linker

Allyson Ritchey

Joshua Strayer

Tedra Ulrich

ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBERS

Jason Adrians

Lee Enterprises

Mona Charen

The Bulwark

Naomi Creason

The Sentinel

Varoujan Gorjian

Astrophysicist

Lee Jussim

Rutgers University

Jacob Mackey

Occidental College

David Monaghan

Shippensburg University

Vanessa Otero

Ad Fontes Media

Kathleen Romig

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Michael Shermer

Skeptic Magazine

Steven Sloman

Brown University

Josefine Smith

Shippensburg University

Jim Swift

The Bulwark