Approximately 8,000 miles away, Northwestern is celebrating the newest addition to its community.
Everette Dennis, currently an administrator at Fordham University with a journalism and communication background, will be the new dean of Northwestern University in Qatar, NU announced Dec. 6. The search began last spring, when current NU-Q dean John Margolis made it clear he was ready to retire after his temporary three-year appointment, said Daniel Linzer, NU provost. Dennis’ appointment will begin June 1.
Candidates for the position were subject to several rounds of interviews and visited both the Evanston and Doha campuses.
“Each candidate brought a particular set of strengths,” Linzer said. “But for the combination of things being done in Education City, Everette was and is the ideal choice. His particular background and accomplishments really fit well.”
Dennis said he is thrilled to lead the satellite campus, largely because of its location and the potential the campus holds.
“The Middle East is an enormously exciting place right now,” Dennis said. “I’m looking forward to learning more about this rapidly changing part of the world. It’s the adventure of a lifetime.”
Dennis currently serves as director of the Center for Communications at Fordham, where he is also department chair for Communication and Media Studies. He also served as president of the national Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and dean of the School of Journalism at the University of Oregon.
The search committee looked specifically for a candidate accomplished in journalism and communication, and Dennis’s experience in both fields set him apart, said Richard Roth, dean of the Medill School of Journalism in Qatar.
“He was head and shoulders above all the other candidates,” he said. “He’s a scholar, he’s a journalist, and he’s been a dean before. His experience in journalism will be particularly valuable.”
Dennis has taught at the University of Minnesota and was previously a visiting professor at Medill. He served as founding president of the American Academy in Berlin in 1994.
Administrative experience abroad was an important factor in evaluating candidates, Linzer said.
“We were looking for someone who had shown a real aptitude or interest in being a senior administrator,” he said. “Finding someone with international experience and who would be able to run an enterprise at quite a distance with a fair degree of independence was important.”
Dennis led the Media Studies Center at Columbia University through the 1980s and ’90s before spending 13 years at Fordham, where his job included expanding the program and hiring faculty.
During his time at the Center for Communications, Dennis helped establish credibility for the department, said Paul Baard, professor of Communications and Media Management at Fordham.
“He exhilarated the Center,” Baard said. “It has inspired our area. It has not only put us on the map, it’s made us a star city in the grad school business.”
His wife, Emily Smith, a longtime editor at Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine, will move with him to Qatar. He is under contract for a five-year appointment.
Dennis said he looks forward to NU-Q’s future as a leader in international education.
“The school can be an institution that can have enormous impact on the region and the world,” he said. “I think it’s the most exciting educational collaboration in the media field anywhere in the world today.”
Brian Rosenthal contributed reporting. [email protected]
