Michael Schoenfeld

Michael J. Schoenfeld, Vice President of Duke’s Public Affairs and Government Relations, oversees communications and advocacy for the university and medical center, the university’s Washington, DC, center, and serves as Duke’s chief spokesperson. He is also an adjunct lecturer in the Sanford School of Public Policy, where he teaches a course on media and politics. As the chief external affairs strategist, he directs the Duke’s efforts to connect with local, regional, national and global audiences, represents the university before a wide range of constituencies, and oversees crisis and issues management. Schoenfeld is also co-founder and chairman of Futurity, a multimedia consortium of more than 60 leading research universities from the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia.

Previously, Schoenfeld was senior vice president for policy and public affairs at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in Washington, D.C.  He also held reporting and leadership positions at the Voice of America, including news and sports anchor, Congressional liaison officer, executive assistant and chief of staff to the director, and served as the first director of program development at Worldnet, the United States Information Agency’s global satellite television network.

Schoenfeld is a member of The Seminar, a group of senior public relations executives from the leading corporations and nonprofit organizations, a member of the board of trustees of Council for the Advancement and Support of Higher Education (CASE), and chairman the Public Issues Committee of the Consortium on Financing of Higher Education (COFHE). A 1984 Duke graduate, Schoenfeld received a master’s degree in public policy from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1986.