Award-winning editor Kit Rachlis has been appointed a 2009-10 senior fellow of the USC Annenberg School for Communication’s Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. In that role, he will help lead a series of discussions and projects in the area of arts, politics and society.

Rachlis joins the center after nearly a decade as editor in chief of Los Angeles magazine. Under his leadership, the publication received seven nominations for national magazine awards and won 39 gold medals from the City and Regional Magazine Association.

Praised as a “writer’s editor” known for building a “constituency for a magazine about ideas,” Rachlis previously served as arts editor of the Boston Phoenix, arts and executive editor of The Village Voice, editor in chief of L.A. Weekly and senior projects editor at the Los Angeles Times. While at the Times, he edited articles that went on to win a Pulitzer Prize, the Ernie Pyle Award and the Livingston Award.

“Kit Rachlis is an outstanding editor and community observer,” said Geoffrey Cowan, USC University Professor, dean emeritus of the USC Annenberg School and director of the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. “He has an important perspective on the unique challenges and opportunities facing Los Angeles, particularly those stemming from our role as a leading cultural center. We are delighted that he will be able to use this post to explore new forms of arts journalism, contribute to the center’s blog and help run various public events.”

Rachlis has served on the boards of the Association of Alternative Newspapers, PEN USA and the American Society of Magazine Editors. His writing has appeared in several anthologies, most recently Empty Nest: 31 Parents Tell the Truth About Relationships, Love and Freedom After the Kids Fly the Coop (Hyperion).

“Los Angeles continues to be the world’s most exciting laboratory to explore innovations in the arts, media, politics and society,” Rachlis said. “I am honored to join Geoff Cowan and his team at USC’s Center on Communication Leadership and Policy to explore these frontiers and find new ways to connect L.A.’s diverse communities through new forms of journalism in the arts and other fields.”