/ / /

Faculty Expertise Database

Search the Database or return to Directory of Faculty & Staff.

Michael R. Kelley

Distinguished Service Professor; Executive Director of Capitol Connection

Main: 703-993-3100
Fax: 703-993-3115

4400 University Drive, MS 1D2
Fairfax, Virginia 22030

Michael R. Kelley has a Ph.D. in Medieval English Literature with a minor in Linguistics. He holds the rank of Distinguished Service Professor at George Mason University. Professor Kelley began teaching at George Mason College in 1970. In 1981, he founded The Capitol Connection, George Mason's business and educational wireless cable television service. He served on the Board of The Corporation for Public Broadcasting from 1979-1983 and was chair of its Audit Committee. He has owned 2 commercial radio stations in Virginia and is currently the licensee of a microwave television station in the metro Washington area and President of The George Mason University Instructional Foundation. He is also C.E.O. and founder of F Corporation, which operates a commercial satellite uplink on the GMU campus. Professor Kelley is a founding director of The Wireless Communications Association, where he serves on its Government Relations Committee. He is a voting member of The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, The Modern Language Association, and The Medieval Academy of America.

Professor Kelley is the author of two books – one on medieval drama and one on television – and numerous scholarly articles. In the second half of 2006 and again in May 2007, Professor Kelley appeared on Internet and broadcast radio discussing FCC spectrum policy and the future of WiMAX wireless broadband. In December of 2006, he was the featured guest on C-SPAN's weekly "Communicator" program. The series features half hour interviews with the people who shape our digital future.

Areas of Research

Digital Rights Management Policies
Government Organizations and Public Assets
Policies for Managing Scarce Radio Frequency Spectrum
Telecommunications Policy
The Impact of Broadband Access on Economic Development Here and in Developing Countries

Education
Ph.D. English Literature & Linguistics, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

M.F.A. Speech and Drama, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

Employment Experience - Academic
2007-Date: Distinguished Service Professor, George Mason University, Fairfax, Va.

2005-2007: Professor of Public Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.

1999-Date: Director, Telecommunications M.A. Program, George Mason Univ., Fairfax, Va.

1989-2005: Professor of English and Telecommunications, George Mason University.

1989-1992: Founding Director, Telecommunications MA Program, George Mason Univ.

1979-1989: Professor of English, George Mason University.

1975-1979: Associate Professor of English, George Mason University.

1970-1975: Assistant Professor of English, George Mason University.

1967-1970: Lecturer in English, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

Management Experience
2005-Date: Member of the Board, SCOLA, Omaha, Nebraska.

2003-Date: Member of the Board, National Instructional Television Association.

1993-Date: President, The George Mason University Instructional Foundation, Inc.

1992-Date: Owner, Mike Kelley Music, B.M.I., Music Publishing Company.

1989-Date: C.E.O., F Corporation, Microwave and Satellite Uplink Common Carrier in Washington, owned by George Mason University Instructional Foundation.

1988-Date: Founding Director, The Wireless Communications Association, Washington, D.C.

1985-Date: Owner, Shannondale Wireless, D.C. area Mobile Radio & Microwave TV Co.

1982-1996: Assistant to the President & Executive Director of Telecommunications, G.M.U.

1981-Date: Founding Executive Director, The Capitol Connection -- George Mason's microwave wireless cable T.V. network in the Washington, D.C. metro area.

1979-1985: President and 50% owner, Alleghany Highlands Broadcasting, Inc., licensee of WXCF AM-FM in Clifton Forge, Va. (Stations sold in 1985).

1979-1983: Director, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Washington, D.C. (One of 15 appointed by the U.S. President, with Senate confirmation, to oversee funding of public broadcasting in America).

Community Service
1993-2005: President, The St. Gertrude Foundation, Inc., Washington, D.C.

1993-1997: Member, Advisory Board, Institute for Conflict Analysis & Resolution.

1993-Date: Trustee, The George Mason University Instructional Foundation, Inc.

1987-1996: Member, Advisory Board, George Mason Univ. Fund for the Arts.

1982-1997: Trustee, The George Mason University Foundation, Inc.

1970-1971: Executive Producer, "Time For English," 90 program television series teaching English as a foreign language on Channels 4, 7, & 9 in D.C.

1994-Date: Member, Recording Academy of America

Areas of Research

Telecommunications Policy
Policies for Managing Scarce Radio Frequency Spectrum
Government Organizations and their Approach to Managing a Variety of Public Assets (oil, gas, fishing, hunting, etc.)
Broadband Access Policies Here and Abroad
The Impact of Broadband Access on Economic Development Here and in Developing Countries
Digital Rights Management Policies

Journal Articles and Reviews
Kelley, M. R. "The Spectrum Auction: Big Money and Lots of Unanswered Questions." IEEE Internet Computing 12, no.1 (2008): 66-70.

Publications
A Parents' Guide to Television (New York: John Wiley & Co, 1983).

Flamboyant Drama (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1979).

Journal Articles and Reviews
Kelley, M. R. "The Spectrum Auction: Big Money and Lots of Unanswered Questions." IEEE Internet Computing 12, no.1 (2008): 66-70.

Board of Directors. Wireless Communication Association, 2011.

Board of Directors. National Educational Broadband Association (NEBSA), 2011.

Board of Directors. SCOLA, 2011.

Northern Virginia Advisory Board. Sandy Spring Bank, 2011.

SPP is recognized as one of the largest, most diverse, graduate public policy schools in the nation.

SPP is one of the fastest growing schools within George Mason University, which was ranked as the number one university to watch by U.S. News & World Report.

SPP’s Arlington campus is on the Metro Orange Line, mere minutes from Washington, D.C. – the global capital of policymaking.