Contact

  • 2000 Weimer Hall
    PO Box 118400
    Gainesville, FL 32611-8400
    mragas@ufl.edu
    tel.407.963.8763 efax.813.315.8073
    more info
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Matt Ragas is a Ph.D. student in Public Relations in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. With a decade of experience in interactive publishing and strategic communication, Matt links theory and practice in his research and teaching. His interdisciplinary research interests include financial public relations, business journalism, political public relations and interactive media. Specifically, his media effects-focused research explores agenda-building, agenda-setting, framing and the attitudinal/ behavioral consequences  among news media content, public opinion and the strategic communication efforts (information subsidies) of corporate, brand and political actors.  

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 research, 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 for 2009, Matt has served as instructor of record for 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 being ABD in fall 2009 and 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." He is passionate about good food, traveling, politics and the stock market.