Lorena M. Sanchez is a CPD Contributing Researcher currently working on the Public Diplomacy in the News project. She is a second year student in the USC Master of Public Diplomacy program and serves on the executive board of the Association of Public Diplomacy Scholars. Lorena is also the current Senior Editor of PD, Public Diplomacy magazine. Prior to her graduate work, she worked for three years as an admission officer for a liberal arts college.

Lorena received a dual Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Journalism, with a focus on diplomacy and international strategic communication, from the University of Southern California in 2005. Her regional interests include Europe, Turkey, the Maghreb and the Middle East. Her research focuses on the public diplomacy of supra and international organizations such as the European Union and UNESCO; the role of art in the formation and promotion of national identities; and the role of Turkey in both Europe and the Middle East, in particular the challenges posed to Europe by Turkey’s prospective EU membership. Lorena speaks Spanish and French and enjoys cooking and Argentine tango.