Dean of UNC-Chapel Hill’s journalism school announces that she’s stepping down
The dean of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media is stepping down after nearly a decade leading the school.
Susan King announced that this will be her last year as dean in her weekly email newsletter to journalism faculty.
“I believe after 10 years a new dean will bring fresh eyes, additional perspective and new energy to our school,” King wrote.
The news comes on the heels of journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones’s tenure controversy that placed the UNC-CH journalism school in the national spotlight earlier this summer.
King, 74, said she never intended to stay on as dean for more than a decade, but plans to return as a tenured faculty member after a leave.
“Media — journalism, public relations and advertising — are in a state of great change,” she wrote, noting that it is not the same world or business that it was in 2012 when she arrived on campus.
As dean and the John Thomas Kerr Distinguished Professor, King helped elevate the school’s journalism and strategic communications programs to be among the best in the country. And she looks forward to continuing to work with UNC-CH students to “prepare them to ignite the public conversation.”
The Nikole Hannah-Jones tenure debate
King recruited Hannah-Jones, who won a Pulitzer prize for The 1619 Project, to be the Knight Chair for Race and Investigative Journalism at UNC-CH. King hoped bringing Hannah-Jones, a UNC-CH alumnus, back to Chapel Hill would be part of her legacy.
However, Hannah-Jones was hired without tenure, which had been granted to previous Knight Chairs at UNC. When the news broke suggesting that conservative politics were behind the decision, UNC-CH students, faculty and alumni organized protests on campus. The issue sparked a debate about academic freedom, race and gender. Hannah-Jones threatened a federal lawsuit against the university.
Ultimately, the campus Board of Trustees voted to offer Hannah-Jones tenure, but she turned down the position to take a similar role at Howard University.
In 2019, King ushered in a $25 million gift from alumnus Walter Hussman Jr. that helped the journalism school surpassed its $75 million goal as part of the university’s Campaign for Carolina.
With that donation, the school was named after Hussman and a now-controversial statement of core values is set to be inscribed on a wall inside the building.
That money also gave Hussman influence in the Hannah-Jones case. He shared his concerns about her work with university leaders during the hiring process.
Hussman was also part of the reason Hannah-Jones didn’t join UNC-CH’s faculty. She said she couldn’t work for a school bearing his name.
‘Proud’ to be dean at UNC
“For me it has been a deep honor to work with faculty and staff who are so committed to students and to the high calling of our profession,” King wrote in the announcement.
“I am proud to say I am dean at this moment,” she wrote.
She acknowledged that this past year has been difficult on many levels. Chapel Hill was at the center of national, state and local issues, including navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, legal battles related to the Silent Sam Confederate statue and Hannah-Jones’s tenure controversy. UNC-CH journalism faculty and students were heavily involved in each one.
“Our school culture kept us focused on engaging our students in the big and important issues of the day,” King wrote, “our commitment to diversity in terms of thought, race, gender, identity, philosophy and other differences was deepened, and our belief that communication and free expression are at the heart of a multi-cultural democracy has been tested and is stronger.”
Contributions to UNC-CH
UNC-CH Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and Provost Bob Blouin sent a message to the campus community Tuesday thanking King for her service and highlighting her accomplishments.
“Her emphasis on creating experiential learning opportunities for students, increasing faculty support and upgrading facilities to reflect media innovation are among the reasons media and journalism is now the University’s second-largest major,” they wrote.
While dean, King helped establish the Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media and the interdisciplinary campus Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life. She also brought in the nearly $22 million donation for construction of the new Curtis Media Center that’s nearly complete.
King developed partnerships with Capitol Broadcasting Company and Bloomberg to improve diversity in the media and journalism industry, and brought the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting from Harvard University to UNC-CH in 2019.
Hannah-Jones is one of the founders of the society that works to increase the ranks, retention and profile of reporters and editors of color reporters in newsrooms.
In 2020, King earned the highest recognition for a dean in her field as the 2019 Scripps Howard Administrator of the Year by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. She’s also been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation, an organization she co-founded; the Earle Gluck Distinguished Service Award by the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters; and the DeWitt Carter Reddick Award for Communication Excellence from the Moody College of Communication.
Under King’s leadership, student journalists have flourished while in school and professionally. The school won the prestigious Hearst National Championship in six out of the past seven years, including in 2021. Since 2016, more than 90% of undergraduate alumni are employed or have enrolled in further education within one year of their graduation, according to the university.
‘Smooth as possible’ transition sought
The university will launch a search this week, and King will remain in place until a successor is named. UNC School of Information and Library Science Dean Gary Marchionini will chair the search committee.
“I want the transition to be as smooth as possible, although I realize the pandemic and accreditation may challenge the idea of ‘smooth,’” King wrote in the announcement.
King said she’ll take a customary leave so that the new dean can “shape the office unhindered.”
When asked how the events of the past year might impact the search, King said she’s never seen faculty members as strong and unified as they are now. She also noted the recent national awards students and professors have earned.
“I wouldn’t wish the pandemic and saga of the [Hannah-Jones tenure] vote on anyone, but I think the school has really gotten stronger,” King said. “To me, someone would be lucky to come in and lead the school at this time.”
This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 1:44 PM.
