51²č¹Ż

Following a thorough international search, I am pleased to announce that Sam Fulwood III has been named dean of the School of Communication. Ā 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 American Progress. His nationally and internationally recognized work addresses some of the greatest issues of our time, including media influences on American life; race relations; data-driven journalism; and the intersection of media, technology, and democracy. Ā He will join 51²č¹Ż on May 1, 2021 and assume his deanship on May 15.Ā 

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

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. Ā Last year, Sam served as a faculty fellow at 51²č¹Żā€™s Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, where he co-directed the ā€œBlack Swing Voter Study,ā€ 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 asĀ for her extensive contributionsĀ bothĀ to 51²č¹Ż and to our understanding of the complex issues around internet governance.Ā Ā It is deeply gratifying to me and to all of her fellow deans that a scholar of Lauraā€™s 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 gratefulĀ to the members of the search committee, ably led by Professor Leena Jayaswal,Ā for theirĀ dedication and help in recruiting such an outstanding newĀ leader. Ā 

This is an exciting moment for Sam to join our community, as SOC has recently launched new bachelorā€™s and masterā€™s 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 welcomingĀ Dean FulwoodĀ to 51²č¹Ż!