Four finalists have been named in the search for a new dean of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
The finalists, chosen in a national search, are E. Culpepper Clark, dean of the College of Communications and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama; Charles C. Self, former dean of the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma; Alan G. Stavitsky, associate dean and professor at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Mass Communication; and Alexis S. Tan, director of the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication at Washington State University.
The new Grady College dean will succeed Leonard N. Reid, who has served as interim dean since July 1, 2005.
The finalists were selected by a search committee of faculty, staff, students and alumni and assisted by a national search firm. Rebecca White, dean of UGA’s School of Law, is chair of the committee.
Each finalist will visit UGA in the coming weeks to meet with Grady College faculty and students and with members of the university administration.
Clark, who also is professor of communication studies and professor of history at the University of Alabama, has been dean of the College of Communication and Information Sciences since 1996. He was executive assistant to the university president from 1990-1996. He previously was chair of the university’s speech communication department as well as the communication department at Georgia State University and the department of communication studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has a Ph.D. in history from the University of North Carolina and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in history from Emory.
Self was dean of the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication from 2001-2005 and holds the Edward L. and Thelma Gaylord Research Chair in the college. Previously he was at Texas A&M University as associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and head of the journalism department, and was chair of the journalism department at the University of Alabama.
He is vice president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and will become president in 2007. He has been president of both the Association for Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Council of Communication Associations. His doctorate in communication theory is from the University of Iowa, and he holds a master’s in mass media research from the University of Missouri.
Stavitsky joined the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication in 1990 and has been associate dean since 1997. He was a visiting professor at the University of Tampere in Finland in 1998. He was a part-time communication officer and video producer at Ohio State University while completing his doctorate and was a public affairs producer and talk show host for a Columbus, Ohio, radio station. He has been an investigative reporter, news director and news anchor for television stations in Wisconsin. He also holds a master’s degree in journalism from Ohio State and a bachelor’s degree in political science and communication arts from the University of Wisconsin.
Tan joined Washington State University in 1986 as chair of the communications department and became director when the department was designated the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication in 1990. Previously he was at Texas Tech University as director of graduate studies and associate chair of the School of Mass Communications, and he also owned a public opinion and marketing research firm in Lubbock, Texas. He received the 2001 Distinguished Leadership Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and that same year was elected to the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.
Tan earned a Ph.D. in mass communication and a master’s degree in agricultural journalism from the University of Wisconsin and a bachelor’s in agricultural journalism from the University of the Philippines.
