 After 11 years as dean of the College of Communication, Tom Fiedler is stepping down in June. But the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist turned academic is not retiring, but rather launching the next stage of his illustrious career. I'm going to miss that being the election analyst on the election. What's next for Tom Fiedler? What I want to do is something that I haven't done as a journalist and certainly wasn't appropriate for me to do as a journalist, is I want to get involved in a campaign with someone who is actually a candidate running for office. I will have the opportunity after I leave here at Boston University to do something with someone who is trying to make change directly. Which candidate have you spoken with and decided to be a part of their platform? Well the person I've decided to help to go down into the arena with is Senator from New Jersey Cory Booker. Why Cory Booker? I think he embodies all the qualities of the candidate that I'm looking for. What I was not looking for in this race was to work for a candidate who I think has enjoyed all the privileges of being a white male. We have some very talented white men who are running for their office. They don't need my help. Society has helped them well enough along the way. Cory Booker is African American. I think that that's the future of where the country ought to be. We're a nation that needs to not just have diversity but to make diversity our strength. I think that Cory Booker can move in that direction. He wants to represent people who face challenges and he has chosen to live with people like that and to fight for them. He worked as a community organizer, ran for city council in Newark. Again, I think a person who's both life story and I believe his positions are ones that I think would make him a good president. You mentioned the ward community organizer who I think for many of us we immediately think of Barack Obama. In what ways do you believe Cory Booker will use his background as a community organizer to move forward in this election, maybe in a similar capacity to Barack Obama? Cory Booker brings to this campaign some experiences that Barack Obama didn't have. Barack Obama was in his first term as a U.S. senator. He'd been in the state house in Illinois. But I think Cory Booker's two terms as mayor of Newark, a major city, the largest city in New Jersey, one of the largest cities in the country. It gives him an understanding of executive management, how to run a big organization and being responsible for a big organization. Barack Obama never had that experience. I think in some ways I would think Cory Booker would come into office with even better preparation for it than Barack Obama had. In which ways will you be individually acting in his campaign? There's likely to be some media relations that I could be involved in. Possibly also in writing campaigns produce a lot of press releases and speeches and that sort of thing. I think perhaps my talent as a writer would be of some use to them. But if they want me to go around the neighborhoods and knock on doors and say vote for Cory Booker, I'll see if I can do that too. Probably one highlight from your journalistic career comes from the fall of Gary Hart's campaign. In what ways do you think your experience on that side of the campaign will affect how you conduct yourself for Senator Booker's campaign? Well I would tell Senator Booker not to cheat on his partner, but he's fortunately Senator Booker is a bachelor. So perhaps that won't be an issue with him, maybe that's a good thing. But personal conduct I think even in comparison to 1987, which was when the Gary Hart scandal broke, is so much more important because now in this era of social media the spotlight is never off. As a journalist clearly there is a line between active participation and being bystander and sort of relaying information. What does it feel like to be able to cross that line and now actually become a participant in politics? Yeah, it's a good question, one that I wrestled with. I think two things about that, I think number one, it's a little bit, it's unknown territory. So there's I think a little bit of a, I feel a gamble in that. In some ways being a journalist is a safe space. You can always claim objectivity or neutrality. So I'm crossing that line. One of the hardest things to do as a journalist is to try to keep your own feelings about someone, either positive or negative, from actually getting to the point where it interferes with your ability to tell a straight, very objective story. There's a lot of self-discipline that goes into that, not having to worry about that. In some ways I think, again, I think it feels liberating, so I'll take that part. Thank you for sparing us a few minutes today, Dean Fiedler, and we look forward to seeing where you end up in the Democratic primaries in 2020. Well I appreciate your interest, thank you.