Matt Ragas is a Ph.D. candidate in
Public Relations in the College of Journalism and Communications at the
University of Florida. With a decade of experience in strategic communication and interactive
publishing, Matt links theory and practice in his
research and teaching. His interdisciplinary media effects-focused research examines the interplay among financial public relations efforts, business journalism coverage and investor opinion from an agenda-building/setting and framing perspective. His dissertation explores influence at a mass mediated-level among challenger and incumbent candidates, the news media and shareholders during proxy contests (contested corporate elections).
His research has been published in Journalism
& Mass Communication Quarterly, the International
Journal of Strategic Communication and the International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. He has
presented his work, including two Top Student Papers, at the International Communication Association and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conferences. Named the College’s Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher of 2009, Matt has taught sections of Public Relations Writing, Public Relations Strategy and Advertising Strategy.
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 communication strategy and brand positioning. He was a co-founder and principal of Indie Research, an investment research provider, and the founding editor of RagingBull, an online investor community (owned by eSignal, Inc.). Matt holds an M.S.
in Management
and a B.S. in Marketing, both from the University of Central
Florida. He anticipates graduating spring 2010.
In his spare time, Matt maintains the FloridaFoodHound blog which provides "Gainesville (and Tampa Bay) restaurant reviews and ruminations by a New Orleans native." His family blog may be found at RagasReport. He is passionate about good food, traveling, politics and the stock market.
