Former U.S. Senator Bob Bennett, the White House’s first official videographer Arun Chaudhary and P.J. Crowley, former assistant secretary of state for public affairs, will join the School of Media and Public Affairs as fellows this academic year.

The three politically savvy media experts will offer insight to students and faculty within the school in the run-up to next year’s presidential election.

“For our future communicators to gain such high-level inside knowledge of political communication techniques is an extremely beneficial educational opportunity,” SMPA Director Frank Sesno said. “It is a perfect example of how our school excels at documenting the influence of media in politics in a world where digital and social media have changed the way people get information, mobilize and act.”

Bennett, who represented Utah as a Republican from 1993 to 2011, and Chaudhary, who is now working on a book about the use of video to document presidencies after trailing the Obama administration for more than three years, are both distinguished professional fellows for SMPA. Chaudhary will also work with GW’s Center for Innovative Media on projects related to social media developments.

Crowley served as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton on national security affairs and later served as the assistant secretary of state for public affairs from 2009 until March 2011. As a professor of practice with SMPA, Crowley will work alongside Sean Aday, the director of GW’s Institute of Public Diplomacy and Global Communication, on programs, lectures and strategic initiatives.

Last March, Crowley publicly criticized the Pentagon for the alleged mistreatment of Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier suspected of providing diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. He resigned from office three days later.

Throughout the school year, the fellows will interact with SMPA students at special lectures, class discussions, special events and seminars.