Erika Falk, PhD, is a program director and chief operating officer of the Israel Institute. Previously she was the founding executive director of the Executive Education Department at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. There she launched a new department bringing it to profitability in its second year of operation. Prior to that, she served for eight years as the program director of the Master of Arts in Communication program at Johns Hopkins. While there she more than doubled the size of the program while increasing the rejection rate five fold. She also instituted an innovative faculty training program.Before coming to Hopkins, Falk served as research director of the Washington office of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. There she supervised several research grants and wrote reports on diverse issues. Her reports have been widely cited by the national press and on the floors of Congress. Falk began her career as a public radio reporter and anchor.Falk has published many articles and two books. Her first book "Women for President: Media Bias in Nine Campaigns"​ is about how the media cover women candidates (2010, University of Illinois Press). Her second book, "Becoming a New Instructor: A Guide for College Adjuncts and Graduate Students"​ (2012, Routledge) is a step-by-step manual for first-time teachers. She has also published on the history of rhetoric, the effects of sexist language, and civility in the House of Representatives. She has taught university courses in political communication, persuasion, public speaking, business communication, overcoming communication apprehension, media theory, research and writing methods, and thesis writing. Falk earned her Ph.D. in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds a Master's degree in Speech Communication and a Bachelor's degree in Politics.