Medill School of Journalism Dean Loren Ghiglione announced Monday he will step down from his position at the end of August 2006. He will take one year off and return to the journalism school in 2007 to teach media ethics.
“I’ve done journalism education administration for 10 years, but I want to write and teach,” Ghiglione said. “It’s very hard to do all of the things you want to do for a school as dean and take on other personal projects.”
Ghiglione intends to step down so he can write a book about the future of news and the role of journalism in democracy. His decision follows a trend of deans choosing to step down after completing five-year terms, he said. At the end of the academic year, Ghiglione will have served as dean for five years.
When he returns to Medill after his break, he will teach ethics courses as the first incumbent of the Richard Schwarzlose Professorship of Media Ethics. This will be a tenured position.
Ghiglione replaced former dean Ken Bode in 2001. He created the South Africa and India Teaching Media programs at Northwestern and “pushed his vision for students to study abroad,” said Richard Roth, associate dean for Medill. Before coming to Northwestern, he directed the journalism program at Emory University for three years and at the University of Southern California for two years.
Under the Richard Schwarzlose Professorship of Media Ethics, Ghiglione will also teach History and Issues of Journalism. Schwarzlose, who died two years ago, created and taught the History and Issues course at NU. He was on the selection committee that hired Ghiglione.
“(Schwarzlose) was a role model and teaching his course will be inspiring,” Ghiglione said. “I hope I can bring a certain energy to the classroom and I look forward to spending more time with the students.”
Replacing a dean is difficult on a school because it’s a lengthy process, Roth said. He also said the transition to a new dean’s leadership is “one of uncertainty.” New deans might emphasize aspects of journalism that were not Medill’s focus under the former dean, which can change the school’s direction, he said.
Roth said he hopes Ghiglione’s emphasis on the journalist’s role in a larger world will remain.
“I think he has really awakened the students to the fact that the world is bigger,” Roth said. “The concept of seeing ourselves as a much bigger universe will stick. His legacy will live through this idea.”
Students that participated in Ghiglione’s first South Africa teaching media program in 2003 said Ghiglione’s emphasis on cultural understanding gave them a greater appreciation for the world.
“I hope Medill continues to focus on the global aspect of journalism,” said Evelio Contreras, a 2004 Medill graduate who went on the first South Africa teaching media program in 2003. Contreras said Ghiglione’s cultural focus “enlightened” him.
“Ghiglione taught us the sense that journalism is more than the daily grind,” said Julie Pace, a 2004 Medill graduate. “He got us to look outside the box. I hope his leaving doesn’t affect Medill too much – especially the international programs. He’s not that dean that sits in an office somewhere. You got to know him as a person.”
Associate Provost Stephen Fisher said the search for Ghiglione’s replacement will “begin soon,” but he could not provide an exact timeline. In the past, committees composed of the provost, professors and students were created to search for and to screen applicants, Roth said. The process will take a full academic year.
Fisher said he is “confident the provost will want to look nationally” for a replacement, as the past several Medill deans have come from outside the NU community.
Reach Margaret Matray at [email protected].
