Professional experience | back to top

• 2008 - President, St. Norbert College, De Pere, Wisconsin
• 2000-2008 - Professor and Dean, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland/President, American Journalism Review
• 1999-2000 - Director, Knight Center for Specialized Journalism; University of Maryland
• 1997-2000 - Editor and Director, Project on the State of the American Newspaper; University of Maryland
• 1992-1997 - Freelance Writer; based in Evansville, Indiana
• 1990-1992 - Deputy Managing Editor, San Jose Mercury News
• 1988-1990 - Editor and Publisher, Arizona Trend and AZ magazines; Phoenix
• 1987-1988 - Copy Editor, New York Times (part-time)
• 1985-1987 - Vice President and Executive Editor, Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer
• 1981-1985 - Various editorial positions, Miami Herald
• Cultural Editor, 1984-1985
• Suburban Editor, 1984
• Night City Editor, 1983
• Assistant News Editor, 1982-1983
• National Desk Copy Editor, 1981-1982
• 1979-1981 - Various editorial positions, Cincinnati Post
• Cultural Editor, 1980-1981
• Copy Editor, 1979-1980
• 1975-1979 - Reporter, Evansville (Ind.) Courier and Sunday Courier and Press
• 1971-1975 - Reporter (part-time), Evansville Courier
  

Publications

Books | back to top

• Currently researching biography of New Yorker nonfiction writer Joseph Mitchell, under contract to Random House.
• Breach of Trust: A Crisis of Coverage in the Age of Corporate Newspapering (Editor, with Gene Roberts, University of Arkansas Press; 2002)
• Leaving Readers Behind: The Age of Corporate Newspapering (Editor, with Gene Roberts and Charles Layton, University of Arkansas Press; 2001)
• Letters from the Editor (Editor, Modern Library; 2000)  New York Times Notable Book for 2000
• Enormous Prayers: A Journey into the Priesthood (Westview/Harpercollins; 1998)
• Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of The New Yorker (Random House; 1995)  New York Times Notable Book for 1995

• “Confused? You’re Not Alone!—Survey of Administrators,” ASJMC Insights magazine, Fall 2007
• “Journalism Requires Wide Exposure,” Quill Magazine, July/August 2002
• “Interviewing the Interviewer,” American Journalism Review, July/August 2001
• “The Age of Corporate Newspapering: Leaving Readers Behind,” American Journalism Review, May 2001
• “A Contract With the Media,” American Journalism Review, January/February 2000
• “A Death in the Family: Ruminations on the End of an Historic JOA in Indiana,” American Journalism Review, December 1998
• “A Friend Writes: Why We All Have a Vested Interest in the Survival of The New Yorker,” American Journalism Review, September 1998
• “Where, in Fact, Are Newspapers Going?” The American Editor, June 1998
• “What It Was, Was News,” American Journalism Review, March 1998
• "Rebuilt on Faith," Phoenix magazine, December 1996
• “The Trouble with Fife,” George magazine, April 1997
• "The Twenty Most Fascinating Women in Politics" (Tina Brown mini-profile), George magazine, September 1996
• “Liven Up!” American Journalism Review, September 1996
• “200 Years of Experience,” Hope magazine, May/June 1996
• “Evan Can’t Wait,” George magazine, April 1996
• “A Hell of an Argument,” (a collection of Harold Ross letters, which I edited and introduced). The New Yorker, February 20, 1995
• “The Wonder Years,” Sports Illustrated, February 6, 1995
• Also:  Approximately 60 columns for American Journalism Review
• Also:  Nineteen columns and articles for Arizona Trends Magazine
• Also: Approximately 60 editor’s columns in Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (1985-1987), and more than 1,000 bylined newspaper stories from 1973 to 1999, most while as a reporter for the Evansville Courier and Sunday Courier and Press, but including some features and reviews for the Cincinnati Post, Miami Herald, New York Times, San Jose Mercury and other papers.

Book reviews and commentary | back to top

• Review of Scotty: The Rise and Fall of James B. Reston, America’s Greatest Journalist, by John F. Stacks; Baltimore Sun; December 2002
• Review of Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story, by Michael Isikoff; American Journalism Review; May 1999
• Review of Lindbergh, by A. Scott Berg; San Jose Mercury News; November 1, 1998
• Review of Red Blood and Black Ink, by David Dary; New York Times Book Review; August 30, 1998
• Review of A Diary of the Century, by Edward Robb Ellis; Washington Post;  September 17, 1995
• Review of Pope John Paul II: The Biography, by Tad Szulc; Lexington Herald-Leader; June 18, 1995
• Commentary on The New Yorker's 70th anniversary; Newsday, February 19, 1995

Teaching

Courses taught | back to top

• JOUR100—Introduction to the Journalism major, Fall 2005
• JOUR371—Feature Writing, Fall 2004
• JOUR800—Introduction to the doctoral program (with Ray Hiebert) Fall 2003
• JOUR800—Introduction to the doctoral program (with Ray Hiebert) Fall 2002
• JOUR800—Introduction to the doctoral program (with Maurine Beasley) Fall 2001

• Norman Lewis (graduated 2007; dissertation on newsrooms as incubators of plagiarism)
• Ira Chinoy (graduation expected 2008; dissertation on the adoption of technology in newsrooms)
• Kevin Swift (graduation expected 2008; dissertation on corporate pressures on local broadcast news)

Academic service and recognition

• President, Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communications 9ASJMC) 2007-08
• Chair, Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) accreditation site team to Southern Illinois University, November 2007
• Chair, ACEJMC accreditation site team to Columbia University, January 2007
• Chair, ACEJMC accreditation site team to Penn State University, October 2006
• Chair, Gemstone program review, University of Maryland, 2006
• Journalism Administrator of the Year, Scripps Howard Foundation/Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), 2006
• Chair, ACEJMC National Accrediting Committee, 2006-08
• Vice Chair, ACEJMC National Accrediting Committee, 2004-2006
• Board of Directors, AEJMC, 2006-
• Hearst Collegiate Journalism Competition Advisory Board, 2006-
• Chair, ACEJMC accreditation site team to University of California-Berkeley, February 2006
• Chair, ACEJMC accreditation site team to University of Florida, October 2005
• Chair of program external review, University of Arizona, Department of Journalism, September 2005.
• Chair, ACEJMC accreditation site team to University of Southern California, February 2005
• Chair, ACEJMC accreditation site team to University of Colorado, January, 2005
• Chair, search committee for dean of University of Maryland’s Public Affairs School, 2004-5
• Chair, ACEJMC accreditation site team to University of Arkansas, 2004
• Chair, ACEJMC accreditation site team to Syracuse University, 2003
• Chair, ACEJMC accreditation site team to University of Washington, 2003
• Chair, ACEJMC accreditation site team to University of Connecticut, 2002