IDEA Director Michael Neblo appointed Dreher Chair
Michael Neblo, founding director of the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA), has been appointed the Ann and Darrell Dreher Chair in Political Communication and Policy Thinking in Ohio State’s College of Arts and Sciences.
The Ohio State University Board of Trustees approved the appointment for a five-year term, from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2031.
Michael is a professor of political science at The Ohio State University. His research focuses on deliberative democracy and political psychology, including how citizens and elected officials can engage in informed discussions about public policy.
Through IDEA’s Deliberative Town Halls, Michael and his collaborators bring together representative groups of constituents and elected officials for focused policy discussions. Participants receive nonpartisan background information in advance, and a neutral moderator guides the conversation as officials respond to constituents’ questions.
Michael is the coauthor of Politics with the People: Building a Directly Representative Democracy (2018), with Kevin Esterling and David Lazer. The book develops and tests an approach to improving representative government through direct exchanges between citizens and elected officials. He is also the author of Deliberative Democracy between Theory and Practice (2015), which examines the relationship between democratic theory and empirical research.
