During a daylong visit with Medill students and faculty, Loren Ghiglione said on Friday he plans to keep an open-door policy when he takes over as dean in July.
“I’m very interested in talking to students,” Ghiglione told about 25 students and faculty members during a question-and-answer session in Fisk Hall. “They’re the center of life here.”
Ghiglione, who was named Medill’s new dean on Feb. 1, is the director of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication.
One goal Ghiglione said he wants met from the onset is building a sense of community at Medill. He said he wants to inspire the same cooperation he observed at The News in Southbridge, Mass., a small-town newspaper that he owned for 27 years.
However, Ghiglione said he doesn’t want to make any assumptions or changes without talking to faculty and students.
“I need to listen and learn first,” he said.
Ghiglione said he sees Medill as one of the top journalism schools, but he wants to make sure it continues to be competitive in all areas. He said he has plans to build an international program and boost the new media program.
“I see other schools pouring money into new technology,” he said. “It’s changing so fast, and we have to keep up.”
Ghiglione called himself a product of a “print world,” but said he realizes the importance of new media.
“I think students should have the self-confidence and ability to take a story and tell it in all mediums,” he said. “I don’t see it as a print versus broadcast versus new media world. It all has to come together.”
He said he wants to focus on international journalism, one arena in which he said Medill could be more competitive among other schools.
The last three summers, Ghiglione has taken USC undergraduate and graduate students to South Africa to work in newsrooms.
“It’s valuable for American students to have this international experience,” he said. “The last few months I’ve been to Nigeria, Mexico and Cuba, trying to expand international efforts at Annenberg. I’d like to do that here.”
Additionally, Ghiglione said expanding the minority faculty and student body is a goal “on his radar.”
“I was talking about having a community, but if you don’t have inclusiveness, then your community doesn’t reflect the country and the world,” he said.
Ghiglione said he tries to reach out to minority groups and make sure that when there is a faculty opening, at least one strong candidate of color is on the list.
To attract a more diverse student body, he said, Medill has to show that it offers a “terrific” program and ensure that financial aid is available.
Medill freshman Michael Blake said he “came with an open mind” about the new dean.
“I was a little disappointed they didn’t hire one of the black finalists, but he seems like someone genuinely concerned with improving minority standards here,” Blake said. “He was very sincere and honest.”
John Mone, a Medill senior, said Ghiglione is “forward-thinking, with his head pointed in the right direction.”
“He’s coming bright-eyed and bushy-tailed into Medill,” Mone said. “I hope he keeps the enthusiasm he has now.”