Dean Susan King of the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media announced Tuesday she is stepping down from her position this academic year.
“This will be my last year as dean,” King said in an email to UNC Hussman faculty. “I want the transition to be as smooth as possible, although I realize the pandemic and accreditation may challenge the idea of ‘smooth.’ A search will be launched this week and I will remain in place until a successor is named.”
King said she will take a leave from the department when the new dean steps in. She said she plans to return as a tenured faculty to work with the students to “prepare them to ignite the public conversation.”
Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said in a message to the UNC community that King advanced the Hussman School of Journalism and Media in numerous ways during her ten years as dean.
“Under Susan’s leadership, the school surpassed its $75 million goal within the University’s $4.25 billion Campaign for Carolina and forged well-funded collaborations across campus and key partnerships with industry and peers,” Guskiewicz said. “The industry-focused Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media and the interdisciplinary campus Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life were established during her tenure. Construction is nearly complete on the Curtis Media Center — an education technology hub with a media production facility and innovative lab and classroom spaces that encourage and enable collaboration.”
Earlier this year, King voiced her support for the decision to grant journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones tenure after a months-long delay of consideration by the UNC Board of Trustees. The journalism dean said in a release she believes Hannah-Jones is “a journalist’s journalist, a teacher’s teacher and a woman of substance with a voice of consequence.”
Hannah-Jones ultimately decided to choose Howard University and will join as a tenured faculty member and as the inaugural Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism.
“I am profoundly disappointed in that outcome for the school, for Hannah-Jones and most especially for our students,” King said in a release. “Hannah-Jones has said she will continue to meet with our students and share her experience and perspectives to help mentor the next generation of graduates who will create powerful journalism in the public interest. She credits her ‘J-school’ education for launching her career and has thanked our school community for its steadfast leadership and support through all of this.”
King’s message to the faculty did not mention Hannah-Jones. In the message, she said she planned to not stay in the position longer than a decade, believing after ten years a new dean will bring “fresh eyes, additional perspective and new energy” to the school.
“This last year has been difficult on so many levels, and I find I admire you even more — individually and as a group,” King said in the email to the UNC Hussman faculty. “Our school culture kept us focused on engaging our students in the big and important issues of the day, our commitment to diversity in terms of thought, race, gender, identity, philosophy and other differences was deepened, and our belief that communication and free expression are at the heart of a multi-cultural democracy has been tested and is stronger.”
“I am proud to say I am dean at this moment,” King continued. “We stand for important ideas, values and commitments, and I constantly hear from students that they know there is a difference in what they learn and experience in our school.”
The search for King’s successor will begin this week, according to the dean’s message.
Featured photo via Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
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