WASHINGTON, June 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has appointed Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee as a Vice President and the first Director of its Media and Technology Institute, which was established last year to study how the media industry and emerging communications technologies can become avenues of advancement for people of color.

For the past seven years, Dr. Turner-Lee has been an executive at One Economy - a global nonprofit that uses the power of technology and information to expand opportunities for low-income people - serving most recently as Senior Vice President for External Affairs in charge of public relations, national strategic partnerships and business development.

While at One Economy, Dr. Turner-Lee played key roles in all aspects of its core business, including residential and community broadband access, online public purpose media and youth technology training. She helped to establish broadband connections in thousands of affordable housing units, supported the development and distribution of One Economy's core media properties and expanded a national technology service initiative from 250 to nearly 3,000 youth in less than two years.

Before joining One Economy, Dr. Turner-Lee founded the Neighborhood Technology Resource Center, a Chicago-based nonprofit that provides public access to computers and the Internet to thousands of low- and middle-income people. In its nine-year history, NTRC has been recognized by the State of Illinois and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as a model community technology center.

In her new position, Dr. Turner-Lee will also serve as a Vice President of the Joint Center. She will lead the effort to establish the Media and Technology Institute as the nation's premier center for research on how minority Americans use media, how communications policies affect their lives and how emerging digital, interactive media can expand opportunity in their communities.

"Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee is an accomplished scholar and practitioner who for many years has devoted her energies to promoting technology as a pathway to opportunity and social progress," said Ralph B. Everett, the Joint Center's President and CEO. "We are excited about the vision and innovative spirit she will bring to the Joint Center Media and Technology Institute, as well as the prospects for its growth and success under her leadership."

Dr. Turner-Lee has served on the board of the Center for Economic Progress, most recently as its chairperson. She is a member of the board for the Community Renewal Society and a former member of the Chicago Wireless Task Force. In 2007, Broadband Properties magazine named her to its list of the "Top 10 National Broadband Promoters."

Dr. Turner-Lee is a former Research Fellow with Northwestern University's Asset-Based Community Development Institute, a recent Rockwood Leadership Fellow and has served as adjunct faculty at Northwestern and North Park Universities. She graduated with honors from Colgate University, has a doctorate in Sociology from Northwestern University and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Illinois-Chicago.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is one of the nation's leading research and public policy institutions and the only one whose work focuses primarily on issues of particular concern to African Americans and other people of color. For more information about the Joint Center, please visit our Web site at http://www.jointcenter.org.

SOURCE Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies