After 2 Failed Searches, Berkeley Announces Journalism Dean

San Francisco — The University of California at Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism announced today a new leader, ending a rocky two-year period in which the school tried and failed twice to find a dean.

Neil Henry, the school’s current interim leader and a former correspondent for The Washington Post, will immediately start a three-year term as permanent dean, according to an e-mail message sent to students and faculty members. Mr. Henry has served as interim dean since the last permanent dean departed, in July 2007, but he had not previously applied for the permanent position.

The appointment comes after two failed searches, which brought negative attention to the school and reflected divisions among some faculty members about the direction the school should take. The first search ran into problems in 2007, when Dianne Lynch, whose appointment to the post had already been announced, decided to stay at Ithaca College. A second search failed last month, when several top finalists dropped out, citing a lengthy, uncertain search process.

William J. Drummond, a journalism professor, said this week that the school’s difficulty in finding a dean stemmed in part from rifts on the faculty over whether to seek a leader with a more-traditional print background or one with new-media credentials. Some faculty members also objected to Mr. Henry because he was a vociferous critic of the previous dean, Orville Schell, according to Mr. Drummond, who said he supported the appointment.

Berkeley’s announcement praised Mr. Henry’s tenure as interim dean, saying he had eased divisions at the journalism school, aggressively pursued new-media initiatives, and raised more than $5-million in the past year. —Josh Keller