Center for Sustainable Democracy

08/27/2026

❤️ 🗳️ Healthy communities are a prerequisite for functional democratic processes in a society.

💡 That philosophy has animated our study of public health messaging among Hispanic and Latino communities in the past year. And that drive pushes us forward to understand messaging dynamics and their linkage to politically polarized public health attitudes.

➡️ Today, we release the first part of our research on public health messages around vaccination, including how these messages get constructed and framed on X and several Spanish-language radio stations in south Florida. Research white paper authored by Joshua Scacco, Andrew Anderson, and Aya Diab is below. ⬇️

✏️ In sum: Politicization is layered into vaccine-related messages. Science and biomedical-based language is employed alongside vaccine claims, including problematic ones. The construction of Hispanic and Latino communities and cultures is inflected in these messages, illustrating how vaccine communication reflects broader identity considerations.

The CSD is grateful to the Andrew Carnegie Foundation for funding this research as part of the fellows program, as well as our research partners in academia and civil society.

02/16/2026

💡 Personal identity is a critical way in which people orient to democratic life. How people describe their interests and issues of concern is central to democracy as well.

📢 Center researchers in the University of South Florida College of Arts and Sciences alongside experts at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication - University of Minnesota and Rutgers University School of Communication and Information have developed a computational classifier tool to study identity expression on social and digital media.

💫 The CSD welcomes the lead-creator of PersonaLex, Dr. Adam Saffer, to the USF campus this Friday (2/20) for a discussion and roundtable on "Developing Computational Means of Identity Detection in Online Spaces."

🔗 For more info on PersonaLex: https://lnkd.in/eu5edUUt

02/16/2026

02/02/2026

📢 Out now: "Flooding the Zone: Paths Forward for Information Quality, Misinformation, and Disinformation Work" in the Journal of Applied Communication Research (JACR). A CSD-led forum uniting research-based and community-practice perspectives from the academy and industry.

🔗 https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjac20/54/1

💫 14 contributions across areas of study and practice in politics and governance, journalism and news, personal relationships, disasters, public health, organizing, the civics classroom, and much more. One of the most comprehensive forums to date.

⭐ An amazing set of international collaborators in academia and industry including Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher, Brad Mehlenbacher, Emily Van Duyn, Qin Li, Ranada Robinson, Mimi Perreault, Alex Mahadevan, Jianing Li, Sang Jung Kim, Ashley Muddiman, Adam Saffer, Thomas J Billard, Walker West Brewer, Oscar Portillo, Oscar Westlund, Yue Li, Stefanie Friedhoff, Evelyn Pérez-Verdía, Gregory Perreault, Phoebe Maares, and Diana Owen ⭐

01/30/2026

We look forward to welcoming Dr. Lance Holbert (Director, The Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics, Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania) and Dr. Diana Owen (Director, Civic Education Research Lab, Georgetown University) for a discussion on "The Future of Citizenship: Civics Education Amid Democratic Challenge" Friday, February 6th.

01/28/2026

The CSD is proud to be a sponsor of the 2026 Public Speaking Symposium at the University of South Florida. Public communication is an invaluable leadership skill that promotes vibrant public spheres and democratic life.

USF Bulls: Submit your best speech ideas today! ✨

10/08/2025

CSD Director Joshua Scacco shared with community members in downtown Tampa at Café con Tampa how university-community partnerships are critical connections to weave in a democracy. Community members came out in force to engage in a discussion on the Center’s work as well as to help answer an ever-present question “What Does 21st Century Democracy Look Like?”

We are grateful to the Café con Tampa leadership for the invitation and hosting, the folks from USF and the Tampa community who showed up at 8am on a Friday, and Madison Pollino for taking pictures.

09/30/2025

CSD Director Joshua Scacco recently traveled to the University of Cincinnati for a roundtable conversation with Dr. David Niven and Dr. Delaney Harness. Professors Scacco and Niven had an important discussion with the university community on “Polarized Politics in Everyday Democracy” that included previews of their work supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Special thanks to Dr. Harness for organizing the event, and the School of Communication, Film, and Media Studies as well as the School of Public and International Affairs at UC for sponsoring.

09/22/2025

🎙️ 🎙️ CSD Director Josh Scacco will be speaking to the Cafe con Tampa community on Friday, October 3rd at 8am. He will be discussing the Center's efforts, including an expanded focus on public health and democracy thanks to grant funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

"What Does 21st Century Democracy Look Like? Leadership, Technology, and Community Contributions to Democratic Sustainability"

Academic institutions have served society, including public health and democracy, by creating, testing, curating, and distributing knowledge to numerous publics. The Center for Sustainable Democracy at the University of South Florida is leading such efforts to better understand how leadership, technology, and community contributions intersect to help and/or hinder 21st century democratic processes. At a moment when democratic governance and processes face strain domestically and internationally, research-backed efforts can inform publics on paths forward for democracy.

Cafe con Tampa is a weekly gathering for members of the Tampa community which features different key community leaders as guest speakers. It is a space for conversation, education, and celebration of our community. A donation of $12 is suggested and breakfast is provided.