IU Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Rahul Shrivastav has appointed a new committee to identify candidates for the position of dean for The Media School.
The committee announcement kicks off a relaunch the initial search, which did not yield a final candidate.
Walter Gantz has served as interim dean of the Media School since July of 2021, after the school’s founding Dean, James Shanahan, returned to the faculty.
The dean will administer the school’s recruitment and retention plans, research mission, facilities, and partnerships, as well as its curriculum, which includes four undergraduate majors with 10 concentrations, a Master of Science with five concentrations, a Master of Arts, and a Ph.D.
The Media School, formed in 2014 as an independent school within the College of Arts and Sciences, combines decades-long traditions of journalism, communication, and film studies and practice with a commitment to preparing students for 21st-century media careers. It strives to expose students to both media theory and practice within a liberal arts context.
The school is home to about 70 full-time faculty, 50 full-time staff, and 2,000 students, and has a network of more than 20,000 living alumni. Its faculty—a balance of tenure-track media researchers and non-tenure track industry veterans—are divided into four units: Cinema and Media Studies, Communication Science, Journalism, and Media Arts and Production.
The school has world-class facilities, with an emphasis on media production. Highlights include four film/TV studios, editing bays, a game design lab, a VR classroom, and podcast studios.
The school’s seven centers—Black Film Center & Archive, Center for Documentary Research and Practice, Center for International Media Law and Policy Studies, Institute for Communication Research, Michael I. Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism, National Sports Journalism Center, and Observatory on Social Media—provide faculty and graduate students with research communities and resources, as well as experiential opportunities for undergraduates. Its award-winning student media outlets include the 155-year-old Indiana Daily Student newspaper, WIUX Student Radio and IU Student Television.
Peg Faimon, Founding Dean of the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture, and Design, will Chair the committee.
The search committee includes representatives of faculty, staff, and students at IU Bloomington. In addition to Faimon as Chair, members are:
- Akinwumi Adesokan, Associate Professor, Comparative Literature, and Cinema & Media Studies, The Media School
- Lela Boys-Sibley, Senior, Journalism, News Reporting and Editing Concentration, The Media School
- Paul Caine, President, On Location and IMG Events
- Susan Kelly, Senior Lecturer, Media Arts and Production, The Media School
- Gerry Lanosga, Associate Professor, Journalism, The Media School
- Nicole Martins, Associate Professor, Communications Science, The Media School
- Ron McFall, Director of Administration and Strategic Initiatives, The Media School
- Elaine Monaghan, Professor of Practice, Journalism, The Media School
- Xan Smith, Doctoral Student and Research Assistant, Media Arts and Sciences, The Media School
- Matt Waller, Senior Executive Advisor to the Provost (Ex-officio, non-voting)