The Bureau of Sociological Research is hosting Jennifer Agiesta, director of polling and election analytics at CNN, to deliver a lecture, “Why Polls Matter: The Role of Public Opinion in Changing Times,” at 12:30 p.m. April 8 in Bessey Hall, Room 117.

The talk is free and open to the public. During her visit, Agiesta will also connect with bureau employees, faculty and students.

Named to her current position in January 2015, Agiesta leads the network’s polling team, which both conducts and reports on polling, and heads its Election Night Decision Desk. During her time at CNN, she has revamped and modernized the network’s standards for reporting on polls and surveys and changed the way it conducts polls to lean on cutting-edge methodologies. She works out of CNN’s Washington, D.C., bureau.

Agiesta is a recognized leader in survey research and public opinion. She serves as president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, and collaborated with other leading researchers on AAPOR’s evaluation of 2020 pre-election polling.

Prior to joining CNN, Agiesta served as director of polling at the Associated Press. There, she ran a two-person polling unit, conducting domestic and international survey research for the news cooperative and leading its election night exit poll coverage.