Matthew W. Ragas, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Public Relations in the College of Communication at DePaul University. He holds a Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of Florida, and an M.S. in management and B.S. in business administration (marketing concentration), both from the University of Central Florida. With over a decade of experience in strategic communication and interactive publishing, Matt links theory and practice in his research and teaching. During his doctoral program, he was named the Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher and was awarded the Outstanding Student Research Award.

Matt's interdisciplinary mass media effects research examines the interplay among public relations efforts, news media coverage, and public opinion in corporate and political contexts from an agenda-building/agenda-setting, framing, and priming perspective. His dissertation explores influence at a mass mediated-level among challenger and incumbent candidates, the financial press, and shareholders during proxy contests (contested corporate elections). His research has been published in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Mass Communication & Society, International Journal of Strategic Communication, Journal of Interactive Learning Research, and International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. He has presented his work, including two Top Papers, at the International Communication Association and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conferences. 

The author of two trade books with Random House/Crown Business, Matt has consulted for clients in the U.S., Canada, India, and Switzerland on corporate communication strategy and brand positioning. His entrepreneurial background includes being a co-founder and principal of Indie Research, a research provider to institutional and individual investors, and the founding editor of RagingBull, a venture capital-backed online investor community (owned by eSignal, Inc.).

When he is not working on research or grading papers and projects, Matt maintains the FloridaFoodHound blog which provides "Chicago (and Florida) restaurant reviews and ruminations by a New Orleans native." His family blog, which he publishes with his wonderful wife Traci, may be found at RagasReport. He is passionate about good food, traveling, politics, and the stock market.