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Christopher J. Finlay, staff writer [e] cfinlay@asc.upenn.edu The Annenberg School for Communication The University of Pennsylvania 3620 Walnut St. Philadelphia, PA 19104.

Christopher J. Finlay is a PhD candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Christopher is currently writing a dissertation on the London 2012 Olympics, internationalism and public diplomacy. His research on the Olympics has thus far resulted in numerous conference presentations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Most recently, Chris published contributed a chapter -“Towards the Future: London and Beyond” -  and co-wrote a second chapter with Lee Humphreys - “New Technologies, New Narratives” – in “Owning the Olympics: Narratives of the New China” (edited by Monroe Price and Daniel Dayan, published by the University of Michigan Press).

In 2006, Christopher helped organize two workshops on the Beijing Olympics. The first, co-sponsored by the Communications University of China and the Annenberg School for Communication, was held in Beijing in July 2006. The second conference was held in Philadelphia in November 2006. Christopher also co-developed and was an instructor in the 2007 Penn-In-Beijing program, a joint effort between the University of Pennsylvania and Peking University, which featured a course on the Beijing Olympics and International Communication.

In the fall of 2007, Christopher was interviewed on CCTV International's "Dialogue" television program about the Beijing Olympics and the politics of public space. Christopher will be returning to Beijing in the summer of 2008 as a guest lecturer in a class on the Olympics as a global communication event. The class is being co-sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania and Tsinghua University. Christopher has an MA in Political Science from Carleton University (Ottawa, Ontario) and a BA in Political Science and History from Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, British Columbia).

His MA thesis, "North Tower, South Tower: Public Opinion and the Clash of Civilizations after 911" won the Pollara Thesis Award for Advanced Work in Public Opinion Research. Christopher also has a background in public policy, having worked at both the provincial and federal level in Canada. Most recently, Christopher was a consultant for the British Columbia Provincial Health Authority.