Medill Dean Ken Bode won’t be moving far when he steps down at the end of this year – he will be teaching at Medill as the first Knight Chair of Broadcast Journalism.
Bode will teach a total of three classes during Winter and Spring Quarters as the Medill School of Journalism’s first endowed chair. He also will continue to moderate the Crain Lecture Series during those quarters.
The James L. Knight Foundation gave Medill a $1.5 million endowment to create the Knight Chair in September 1999, during Bode’s tenure as dean. Bode said he did not expect to take the position when it was created.
“I didn’t go out and get it intending for me to serve in it,” he said. “We had somebody else completely in mind who declined it. We were then faced with doing a search or the provost wanted me to take it as part of my arrangement to stay at Medill.”
Bode said the only downside to taking the Knight Chair would be a cut in salary. But that would be made up by the “psychic income” of the position, he said.
“(The title) makes you feel better,” he said. “But you can’t spend it.”
Joe Angotti, chairman of Medill’s broadcast program, said Bode’s presence on the staff, along with a new broadcast building and new television equipment, will boost the broadcast program to a level commensurate with Medill’s newspaper program.
“Medill has achieved its reputation based on its newspaper program,” he said. “Broadcasting has not been a driving force in Medill’s curriculum or structure. Now it’s on an equal level with the newspaper, magazine and new media programs.”
Bode also said he is excited about being part of the revamped broadcast program.
“I think that in very short order we are going to be recognized as the very top broadcast program in the country – and I’m eager to take part in that,” he said.
Because Bode’s position is paid for by the endowment, the broadcast program will gain a teacher without taking away resources from other programs, Angotti said.
“None of the other budgets or personnel have been diminished,” he said.
Mary Ann Weston, a Medill professor and associate dean, agreed that the improvement of one program doesn’t signal the decline of the newspaper and magazine programs.
“I don’t see the different parts of Medill as these different principalities at war with each other,” she said.
Bode said he will teach at least one documentary television class Spring Quarter with Angotti. The class is not new, but Bode said he wants to make it the “premiere capstone” of the broadcast program.
Five years ago, newsmagazine shows became more popular than documentaries, Angotti said. But stations like PBS, CNN and A&E have shown renewed interest in running documentaries, which has stimulated broadcast students’ interests in taking the documentary class.
Angotti said Bode’s experience in making documentaries, including profiles of both George W. Bush and Al Gore that ran on CNN last fall, would benefit his students.
“It’s definitely a great opportunity for students to be taught by someone who is currently reporting and producing television documentaries,” he said.
Bode said he looks forward to returning to teaching and reporting next year.
“That’s what gives me the most joy – working and doing journalism,” he said. “I love the teaching, but administrating is not my cup of tea.”
