It has become commonplace for higher education units to see themselves in competition, and to revel in their success over others measured by different rankings and metrics. While it is natural to be pleased by such success as we face big social and intellectual challenges, it is clear that we need much more emphasis on collaboration. I was therefore delighted to jointly host the launch event of the new Media, Inequality and Change Center (MIC), which illustrates just how valuable such collaboration can be. 

When Todd Wolfson broached the idea of the center to me around three years ago, one thing that attracted me was the potential of the partnership. Our school and the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School share values, complementary sets of skills and resources, and two unique educational environments: public and private. I was delighted that Michael Delli Carpini, then dean at Annenberg School, shared my vision. And now John L. Jackson, Jr. , incoming dean at Annenberg School, also shares this collaborative approach. 

MIC reconfigures media in the context of new platforms, information flows, and political contexts, and paves the way for designing new communication organizations.  I see it as having a critical focus that exposes the challenges to local media and the increasing precarity of media employment; but also a constructive focus on designing new systems, inventing new organizations, developing new visions for media and community.

Just recently, we celebrated the MIC launch. John Jackson and I welcomed the audience,and the event was led off by a conversation between Dean Jackson and Naomi Klein, the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture and Feminist Studies. Klein’s work intersects these different spaces of scholarship and social crisis in a way that is both generative and challenging. It was exciting to hear about her new Rutgers SC&I course on the Corporate Self – the changing idea of the self in the era of surveillance capitalism and personal branding. We got a taste of her forthcoming book " On Fire" that argues passionately that climate change needs to be linked to issues of social justice and economics; things are not just getting hotter and wetter; they are getting meaner and crueler. 

As you might know, SC&I is pressured for space. In the longer term, we hope for a new building. In the meantime, we are in continual discussions about the use of co-adjacent space – the old Rutgers club, the "new" Chancellor Residence, Office of Diversity (if and when it moves), Global Services and the Alexander Library. These negotiations are complex. And we are victims of our success – we have new faculty and staff coming in, and project even more still with the start of new programs, so we will have some tough decisions to make. We have now had some success with Alexander Library space; however, this pressure will continue as we recruit more new faculty members.

Last, but very far from least, let us celebrate huge success from across the school.

 

·          Lisa Mikesell has been promoted to Associate Professor of Communication with tenure. 

·          Galina Bolden has been promoted to full Professor of Communication.

·          Marija Dalbello has been promoted to full Professor of Library and Information Science. (All promotions take effect July 1, 2019.) 

·           Susan Keith was elected to the prestigious role of vice president of Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). 

·          Mary Chayko has been given the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching for the academic year 2018-2019. 

·          Sunyoung Kim passed her third year review and is reappointed as Assistant Professor.

·       Chenjerai Kumanyika passed his third year review and is reappointed as Assistant Professor.

·          Charles Senteio passed his third year review and is reappointed as Assistant Professor.

Best wishes for a wonderful summer!

Dean Jonathan Potter