Michael Flaherty

Credentials: Retirement Date: 2020

Position title: Lecturer Emeritus

Email: mjflaher@wisc.edu

Before this retirement in 2020, Michael Flaherty had been a senior lecturer and instructor at the department since 1991. Drawing upon his skills gained in industry, he taught introductory science writing classes and classes that utilize social marketing to aid nonprofits in the Madison community. Flaherty is proud to have taught nearly 900 students in his three different courses.

He is president of Flaherty & Associates, a public policy communications and public relations firm focused on communication strategies to support issue- and idea-based nonprofits, government agencies, and private sector initiatives.

Flaherty is formerly director of marketing and public affairs for Meriter Health Services, a community-based health care system that includes a hospital, clinics, a physician group, and Physicians Plus, a provider-owned HMO. He started his career as a journalist, working for the Wisconsin State Journal as a business and government reporter, as a Washington D.C. correspondent for a Dow Jones daily newspaper group, and for regional newspapers in Wisconsin and Minnesota.