69传媒

Following a thorough international search, I am pleased to announce that Sam Fulwood III has been named dean of the School of Communication. 聽A prominent journalist, public policy analyst, author, and dynamic media leader, Dean Fulwood currently serves as a Senior Fellow and Vice President-Race and Equity at the Center for 69传媒 Progress. His nationally and internationally recognized work addresses some of the greatest issues of our time, including media influences on 69传媒 life; race relations; data-driven journalism; and the intersection of media, technology, and democracy. 聽He will join AU on May 1, 2021 and assume his deanship on May 15.聽

Dean Fulwood is the former director and founder of 69传媒 Progress鈥檚 Leadership Institute, a program to assist with the advancement of people of color in public policy. 聽He was a metro columnist at Cleveland鈥檚聽The Plain Dealer聽and a national correspondent in the Washington, DC bureau of the聽Los Angeles Times, where he contributed to the Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. 聽Earlier in his career,聽Sam held the positions of business editor and state political editor for聽The Atlantic Journal-Constitution聽and worked as an assistant city editor, business reporter, editorial writer, and the Johannesburg, South Africa bureau correspondent for the聽Baltimore Sun. 聽He began his reporting career at聽The Charlotte Observer, his hometown daily, where he was a police, sports, and business reporter. 聽He has produced high-profile and award-winning journalism. 聽

His public policy work has promoted legislation to advance comprehensive immigration and criminal justice reforms, as well as advocacy for racial equity in housing, employment, and mass transit policies. 聽Last year, Sam served as a faculty fellow at 69传媒 University鈥檚 Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, where he co-directed the 鈥淏lack Swing Voter Study,鈥� a survey and focus-group report that predicted the important role that Black voters would play in key battleground states prior to the 2020 election.

As she returns to the faculty, I would like to thank Dr. Laura DeNardis for her extraordinary work as interim dean since July 2019, as well as聽for her extensive contributions聽both聽to 69传媒 University and to our understanding of the complex issues around internet governance.聽聽It is deeply gratifying to me and to all of her fellow deans that a scholar of Laura鈥檚 stature would have agreed to step into the interim deanship, and to have led SOC so brilliantly, these past two years!

I am also deeply grateful聽to the members of the search committee, ably led by Professor Leena Jayaswal,聽for their聽dedication and help in recruiting such an outstanding new聽leader. 聽

This is an exciting moment for Sam to join our community, as SOC has recently launched new bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degree programs, increased external scholarship funding, celebrated new high-impact faculty work, opened the renovated Media Production Center, and expanded innovative programs in DEI, among many other accomplishments.

Please join me in welcoming聽Dean Fulwood聽to 69传媒 University!