|
 Brad
Hamm, associate dean of Elon University's School of Communications,
has been selected to be dean of the Indiana University School of
Journalism, historically one of the nation's premier programs. Below
is the news release issued by Indiana University March 21.
BLOOMINGTON,
Ind. - Bradley J. Hamm, associate dean and associate professor
of communications at Elon University in North Carolina, will be
recommended to the IU Board of Trustees as the next dean of the
Indiana University School of Journalism at an upcoming meeting.
He would succeed Trevor Brown, who is retiring at the end of this
academic year after leading the school for 20 years.
Hamm's background
includes serving as interim dean for a new School of Communications
founded five years ago at the private North Carolina university
and several years of professional journalism experience. He has
continued as associate dean since July 2001. Elon's program includes
journalism, broadcasting, cinema and corporate communications, and
it has an undergraduate program that is similar in size to IU's.
"Brad is a
wonderful choice for dean of the School of Journalism," said Kenneth
Gros Louis, IU senior vice president for academic affairs and chancellor
of the Bloomington campus. "He has excellent qualifications and,
more importantly, he will fit the culture of Indiana University.
It is clear that Brad has a tremendous amount of passion for his
work. I know that Brad will work with the faculty, staff and students
to move the school forward."
Hamm said he
feels honored to be selected as the school's next dean. "It has
such a wonderful history and I think that journalism and Indiana
University have always gone together in my mind," he said. "I think
of people like Ernie Pyle and Roy Howard, and I think of how famous
that program has been. So it's just an honor to be included."
In looking
for a successor to Brown, the search committee sought a candidate
who could lead the school through a period when many veteran faculty
members are expected to retire and the school will face funding
challenges and facility needs. The committee also sought a candidate
who could lead the school into a new media era. Hamm helped build
the new communications school at Elon University into a respected,
up-and-coming program.
At its founding,
the Elon School of Communications had 14 faculty members, including
12 who were untenured assistant professors or instructors and five
who had one-year appointments. Today, the school has 29 full-time
faculty members, including a Pulitzer Prize-winner and 10 professors
who have completed books or signed book contracts in the past year.
As interim
dean, Hamm worked to build an endowment at a university that previously
had not allowed academic programs to raise money. Within 15 months,
about $500,000 was raised for the Elon school, including a $100,000
gift for minority scholarships. This academic year, the school has
commitments for at least another $500,000.
At IU, "our
goal always will be to have one of the finest journalism programs
in the nation," Hamm said. "We need to consider the future of journalism.
In that case, I think it's not so much the form, it's what are the
qualities of journalism, what are we teaching people to do, remembering
that, regardless of the form, journalism is essential to democracy."
Hamm has a
bachelor of arts degree in communications from Catawba College (N.C.),
a master of arts degree in journalism from the University of South
Carolina, and a doctorate in mass communication research from the
University of North Carolina.
Before entering
journalism education, he was a reporter and sportswriter for The
Salisbury (N.C.) Post and night broadcast editor of the South Carolina
bureau of Associated Press. In 1999, he was a project coordinator
and consultant for the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group on
a project involving its three newspapers in North Carolina, "Left
Behind," that won a Chairman's Award from New York Times publisher
Arthur Sulzberger and second place in the Southern Journalism Awards
presented by the Institute for Southern Studies.
He has taught
at Elon since 1989, and was appointed as an assistant professor
there in 1995. He was appointed as an associate professor in 2000.
|
