From the issue dated December 10, 2004
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'Business Week' Editor to Be CUNY Journalism Dean; Candidate Backs Out of Louisiana College Presidency
FROM EDITOR TO DEAN: "We're starting the school from scratch," says Stephen B. Shepard, editor in chief of Business Week, who will become dean of the new Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. Mr. Shepard will start on March 15, 2005; the school is slated to open in 2006. The school will be located in a newsy neighborhood, in a building on West 41st Street that was once the home of The New York Herald Tribune. It will also be next door to the future headquarters of The New York Times. Mr. Shepard, 65, has spent 34 years at the magazine, the last 20 of them in the top editorial spot. He is a City College graduate who also taught for six years at Columbia University's journalism school, where he helped found the Knight-Bagehot fellowship in business and economics journalism. In 2003 he served on the school's curriculum-reform committee. He has worked with CUNY for the last five years as a member of the university's business-leadership council, an advisory panel led by Matthew Goldstein, the chancellor. Mr. Shepard says the biggest decision he will have to make is how to structure the school's programs. At a time when Columbia has added an extra year of optional study to its graduate journalism program, CUNY will have to decide how to balance teaching the practical aspects of journalism -- reporting, writing -- with a focus on a specific area, such as business or health. "We really can create what we want here," says Mr. Shepard, who plans to talk to faculty members and others at the university before making those decisions. CUNY's journalism school will start out with about 50 students, then gradually increase that number to about 200. The faculty will grow in stages as well. Mr. Shepard says the beauty of CUNY is that the program will be affordable and accessible. CUNY hopes those factors, combined with its location, will attract a diverse mix, particularly immigrants and minority students. "This is just a great place to learn and do journalism," says Mr. Shephard. *** LED BACK TO TEXAS: A month after Malcolm B. Yarnell III acknowledged that he was a "reluctant" candidate for the presidency of Louisiana College but accepted it anyway, he has decided not to take the job after all. Mr. Yarnell, 42, said God had led him to accept the position at the Baptist institution, which has been under investigation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools for violations of academic freedom. "Theologically I am very conservative," Mr. Yarnell says. "I'm the kind of guy the trustees want." But he says that when it came to managing the college he found that the board wanted a figurehead rather than a real leader. "The chairman of the board and I could not agree on what the office of the president meant," says Mr. Yarnell. The reluctant president-elect had made some appearances for the college but had not given up his job as assistant dean for theological studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Fort Worth, Tex., where he will remain. Bill Hudson, a Baptist minister who is chairman of the Louisiana College's board, says the trustees never intended to limit Mr. Yarnell's authority. "I can assure you ... I have no desire to try to manage Louisiana College," he says. The board will meet this month to talk about a new search. Members "believe in the sovereignity of God and that He knows exactly who will be here" as president, he says. Louisiana College has been under investigation by its accreditor as a result of a policy the board announced last year that requires administrators to screen all textbooks. Thomas Howell, a history professor at the college, says Mr. Yarnell's decision is "discouraging and demoralizing." He says he is worried that no one else will want the job "if the board's not going to let him run the school." *** COMINGS AND GOINGS: Judith L. Swain, a molecular cardiologist and chairwoman of the department of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, will become the first director of the College of Integrated Life Sciences at the University of California at San Diego. The college that Dr. Swain, 56, will lead brings together institutes focusing on molecular medicine, clinical research, and patient care. Her salary will be $275,000. Got a tip? E-mail peer.review@chronicle.com http://chronicle.com Section: Short Subjects Volume 51, Issue 16, Page A7 |
Copyright © 2004 by The Chronicle of Higher Education