J-school dean search narrows

Three candidates remain in the running for a new journalism school dean after the only female contender dropped out of the race Tuesday.

Terry Hynes, journalism school dean at the University of Florida, withdrew her bid to lead UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

“It really was wonderful up there, and they have one of the finest programs in the nation,” Hynes told The Independent Florida Alligator on Tuesday. “However, I feel my talents are better matched here, and that there’s more going on in this program.”

She could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

UNC alum Joel Brinkley — who won the won a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in 1980 and who has worked for The New York Times since 1983 — is the third and most recently named candidate.

“I’m thrilled to be a finalist, and I’d love to be dean,” said Brinkley, a member of the UNC General Alumni Association Board of Directors.

He said he has accomplished everything he has set out to do professionally and thought that a dean position would bring a new and interesting challenge.

One challenge the school faces is finding a dean with both practical and academic expertise, said Chris Roush, director of the Carolina Business News Initiative and a member of the search committee.

“(Brinkley) doesn’t even have a master’s degree, for crying out loud,” said Chuck Stone, Walter Spearman professor in the journalism school. “He’s coming into a high-powered faculty.”

Stone, who is not a member of the search committee, noted a potential disparity between Brinkley’s practical and academic experience. He added that he is disappointed that none of the candidates are women or faculty already within the school.

“I really want to see a woman as dean,” Stone said. “That is unforgiveable to have all final male candidates. I would hope that the women would protest.”

Other school faculty worried that the candidates’ solid news and editorial backgrounds might leave some of the program’s other disciplines, particularly public relations and advertising, without much of a voice under new leadership.

Candidate Frank Denton served as editor of the Tampa Tribune for 11 months and the editor of the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison. He and Brinkley will now compete against Gerald Baldasty, professor and chairman of the Department of Communication at the University of Washington.

Though Brinkley and Denton, a member of the school’s board of visitors, have links to the school, public relations professor and search committee member Dulcie Straughan said Tar Heel ties aren’t necessary.

The committee plans to meet later this week in light of Hynes’ withdrawal.

 

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.