Grad student Cunningham wins LSE's McKenzie Prize

Ryan Cunningham (M.A. Global Communication ’09) is the newest recipient of the Robert McKenzie Prize, awarded each year by the London School of Economics and Political Science in recognition of outstanding academic performance.

Cunningham, a graduate of both a small undergraduate school on the Puget Sound and the LSE, currently works as a brand strategy analyst at Siegel and Gale. He said his class work at USC Annenberg involves a lot of personal contact with instructors, but it was his time at LSE that earned him the award.

“I've received a lot of congratulations from professors both here and in London," said Cunningham, who is in the process of completing the two-year, two-school program. “And Annenberg has done a great job of both providing exposure to different communication career paths as well as the access to follow them. I've had the chance to do some interesting pro bono work for real clients and have really benefited from the connections and insight of professors. I may not know exactly how I want to spend the rest of my career but I feel far more educated about my options and empowered to take them.”

Cunningham has become concerned with the power of media to communicate eco-friendly messages. His blog, “Preparsed,” addresses issues as diverse as fiscal incentives for losing weight to the greening of mass marketing. Cunningham said this diverse life will continue into the foreseeable future.

“I’m personally fascinated by the challenges that ‘green’ poses to communication in a business context,” he said. “I would love to work that passion into my career plans.”

Cunningham said the experience at LSE, where USC Annenberg Global Communication students study for one year before starting their program at USC, was memorable.

“The LSE was amazing both for the content and the experience,” said Cunningham. “The academics challenged me in ways I wasn't prepared for - intensely and densely theoretical, but highly rewarding at the end of the day. It was the people I was fortunate enough to study with that really made the year, though. The global program attracts people from all over the world, and I've made some great lifelong friends.”

Cunningham has some immediate plans that have little to do with economics, but he realizes that the award will help him beyond graduation with another lifelong friend.

“Between finishing grad school and planning a wedding in July, anything helps,” Cunningham said. “But it means a lot more to me than the financial benefit. I'm really honored to receive an award like this from the LSE.”