2008 Woodie Awards
Journalism dean to leave post
Ben Slivnick
Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: News
Tom Kunkel, who as journalism school dean recruited Pulitzer Prize-winning faculty, raised money for a new building and weathered the Jayson Blair plagiarism controversy - all without ever teaching a class beforehand - announced yesterday he's leaving the school.
Kunkel will leave this summer to become president of St. Norbert College, a liberal arts school in eastern Wisconsin.
Now 52, Kunkel had worked for 25 years as a reporter and editor before becoming dean of the journalism school eight years ago. Although he never earned his doctorate or worked as a professor, Kunkel drove the school to the top of national rankings.
"It was a privilege to have been given a chance to be dean, most especially because of the relationships I've built with students," Kunkel said.
But the move toward college presidency is still an odd shift for a man who once said he'd never enter academia. He had worked in newspapers since he started at the Evansville Courier when he was 16 and at 29 became the youngest executive editor in the history of the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain when he held the top job at Georgia's Columbus Ledger-Inquirer.
He originally came to the college for the chance to work on a series of stories about the state of American newspapers for American Journalism Review, a magazine affiliated with the school. Once he finished the project, he trained experienced journalists for a brief stint before Reese Cleghorn stepped down as dean and Kunkel found himself in the position.
As he moves almost entirely into the realm of academia, he says he'll miss journalism's unpredictability.
"In journalism, you never really know what's going to happen that day when you get up," Kunkel said. "It's never dull."
Still, Kunkel said he's used many of the skills he's learned in journalism - relationship-building, storytelling, the ability to converse - as a university administrator. He's raised $50 million as dean, and university President Dan Mote said the connection between his two jobs is clear.
Kunkel will leave this summer to become president of St. Norbert College, a liberal arts school in eastern Wisconsin.
Now 52, Kunkel had worked for 25 years as a reporter and editor before becoming dean of the journalism school eight years ago. Although he never earned his doctorate or worked as a professor, Kunkel drove the school to the top of national rankings.
"It was a privilege to have been given a chance to be dean, most especially because of the relationships I've built with students," Kunkel said.
But the move toward college presidency is still an odd shift for a man who once said he'd never enter academia. He had worked in newspapers since he started at the Evansville Courier when he was 16 and at 29 became the youngest executive editor in the history of the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain when he held the top job at Georgia's Columbus Ledger-Inquirer.
He originally came to the college for the chance to work on a series of stories about the state of American newspapers for American Journalism Review, a magazine affiliated with the school. Once he finished the project, he trained experienced journalists for a brief stint before Reese Cleghorn stepped down as dean and Kunkel found himself in the position.
As he moves almost entirely into the realm of academia, he says he'll miss journalism's unpredictability.
"In journalism, you never really know what's going to happen that day when you get up," Kunkel said. "It's never dull."
Still, Kunkel said he's used many of the skills he's learned in journalism - relationship-building, storytelling, the ability to converse - as a university administrator. He's raised $50 million as dean, and university President Dan Mote said the connection between his two jobs is clear.
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