Bradley Hamm, the current dean of Indiana University’s School of Journalism, will replace outgoing Medill Dean John Lavine, University administrators announced Thursday morning at a packed McCormick Tribune Center Forum. An email from a Medill marketing director early Thursday morning invited students and faculty “to come meet the new dean,” concluding a nearly six-month search process for Lavine’s replacement. Lavine announced in September that the 2011-12 academic year would be his last at Medill. Less than an hour before the event, local blogger Jim Romenesko tweeted that an unnamed source had tipped him off that Hamm would be the next dean. Minutes before the announcement, Lavine confirmed Hamm’s appointment to The Daily. Hamm said his appointment had been a swift process. “I found out on Friday about the possibility, I knew it was going to be a decision coming very soon and I was excited that when the provost called,” Hamm told The Daily after the announcement. “As we thought about Medill we thought there was tremendous opportunity there. And the ability for us to be at Medill Evanston and Chicago was a difference there.” Hamm has spent six years at the helm of the Indiana’s School of Journalism, and prior to that he served as an associate dean at Elon’s School of Communications. University Provost Dan Linzer touted Hamm’s resume in his introduction, noting that at Indiana Hamm diversified the student body, brought in the two greatest individual donations ever to the school and emphasized the importance of providing students with global experiences. Linzer said Hamm’s innovation would translate well at Medill during a time when the nature of the industry is constantly changing. He said the search committee had looked for someone who could sail a “ship (when) we can’t quite predict which way the winds will blow” Amid the pageantry of announcing the next dean — purple Northwestern sweatshirts were presented to Hamm and his family, lunch was laid out in the auditorium and Medill professors chatted afterward — Schapiro reiterated the “high-stakes” nature of choosing Lavine’s successor. In opening remarks, Schapiro said that both the highly touted Medill name and the challenges of teaching new journalism made selecting the next dean a particularly important task. “While it’s daunting taking over such a preeminent institution and taking for John (Lavine), we know you’re the right person,” Schapiro said to Hamm. Hamm will inherit a school that has evolved rapidly, and not without controversy, during Lavine’s six-year tenure. The outgoing dean helped to craft and implement the Medill 2020 plan, which pushed the school to move in a more digital and audience-driven direction and offered a certificate program in Integrated Marketing and Communications. One of the more symbolic moments during Lavine’s time as dean came when the school’s name changed in 2010 from The Medill School of Journalism to a lengthier and more encompassing title: The Medill The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. On Thursday, Lavine said he had had just a few conversation with Hamm, but felt confident in the University’s selection. “Every dean makes their own mark,” Lavine told The Daily after the announcement. “(Hamm) doesn’t need my advice. He will be just fine — he has good ideas.”
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