Dean's Message: Progress on all Fronts

Interim Dean Stewart Hoover

Bylines readers will know that this continues to be a time of change for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. What had promised to be a new beginning with a new dean was cut short by a serious health problem, and now we again are in a national search for a dean. As interim dean, it has fallen to me to once again lead the School through this transition process.

Things are going well. A search committee, under the able leadership of Continuing Education Dean Anne Heinz, is hard at work considering a pool of very strong candidates for our dean's post. We have no doubt about a successful conclusion, with a new dean to be in place by next fall. Our faculty, our students and our staff continue to work hard to keep the School at the forefront of journalism and mass communication education. Awards and honors continue to testify to this tradition of excellence.

A strong and dynamic cadre of alumni and friends has not lost a beat in its support of the School. We have wonderful alumni, a committed, supportive and active Advisory Board, and a growing network of friends and supporters, both in Colorado and nationwide.

All of this was brought home to us in the School this past October, when we celebrated one of the final touches of our move to the Armory building: the installation of our commemorative galleries. These contain plaques recognizing the many awards and honors our students have won over the years and are a lasting record of the School's history of accomplishment. Central to these galleries are sculptures recognizing scholarship programs in honor of long-time CU Sports Information Director Fred Casotti and Bob Palmer, a giant in Denver news broadcasting. Friends and family joined in this celebration, and it brought together for all of us the linkages that exist between the School, the community, our alumni and our wider network of friends.

But we cannot only look back. The School is also in the midst of a serious re-evaluation of our mission, goals and curriculum. This process was initiated by former Dean Del Brinkman, and it has moved ahead over the past months. It has resulted in revised and strengthened School bylaws and personnel policies. It has also begun a longer conversation on the School's future, a conversation that will continue as we welcome a new dean. All of this work is being accomplished by members of our faculty, who have put hundreds of hours into these efforts. Other constituencies, including our Advisory Board and our students, have also been involved.

What have we learned? Even though these reviews and discussions are far from complete, we know a few things already about how we think of ourselves as a School. We are committed to our students and to seeing that they get the best education possible. We are committed to scholarship that puts the School at the center of the mission of our University. We are committed to bridge-building between what we do and the industries and constituencies we serve.

The fact that we are moving ahead in such thinking was brought home for us by the recent, highly publicized conversations at Columbia University over the direction of its Graduate School of Journalism. That we had already been involved for some time in exactly the same kinds of discussions gave us some small reason for satisfaction. However, we will only be truly satisfied if our efforts and solutions actually result in a School that can remain in a position of leadership well into the 21st century.

Such a future is built on the past, and we owe a debt of gratitude to the leaders who have occupied this office during the many decades of the School's history. The most recent of them, Del Brinkman, writes from retirement that he is doing well. We are happy about that and even more pleased that he has agreed to serve on our Advisory Board. He has already made a great contribution in that capacity. At a spring meeting, the faculty was pleased to be able to confer on him, and on his predecessor, Willard D. Rowland Jr., the titles of professor emeritus and dean emeritus in recognition of their contributions to the foundation on which we will build into the future.