KU journalism dean to step down at end of 2003-04 school year

LAWRENCE -- James K. Gentry, dean of the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas, today announced plans to step down. Gentry will return to full-time teaching and research at the end of the 2003-04 academic year.

The university will begin a national search this fall for a new dean to be in place by July 1, 2004.

Gentry came to KU as dean in July 1997, leaving the deanship at the University of Nevada at Reno. He quickly led the KU school through major curriculum reform to better prepare graduates for new technology in the industry as well as the emerging "convergence" trend, in which media combine broadcast, print and online news operations.

"I've really enjoyed being dean at KU," Gentry said, "but when I came, I said I only wanted to be dean for six or seven years, and this will be my seventh year.

"I've had wonderful faculty, staff and students to work with. The faculty has been very forward-looking in creating a new curriculum and a new governance structure at a time when many schools are still locked in their old ways of doing things."

In 2001, Quill, the magazine of the Society of Professional Journalists, reported that KU is "considered by many to be the model for innovative curriculum revision." During a 1999 re-accreditation review, a site visit team praised the school for "pioneering curricular efforts to prepare students for media convergence" while maintaining the school's traditional emphasis on editing, writing and reporting.

Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor David Shulenburger praised Gentry for having "led a remarkable change of direction in the journalism school since becoming dean."

"He has done a great deal to make KU a leader in the new and rapidly evolving field of professional journalism, and he's been a great colleague," Shulenburger said. "I'm delighted that he will remain at KU and continue to contribute to the school as a distinguished faculty member."

Under Gentry's leadership the journalism school has more than doubled the number of its dean's club members -- donors who give $1,000 or more a year -- and the school is more than halfway to its $5 million goal for the KU First major fund-raising campaign. The school also has maintained its reputation for strong teaching, receiving the KU Center for Teaching Excellence award as the best large teaching unit on campus in August 2002.

Gentry has led the school to increased national visibility with such activities as its upcoming "Convergence: Possibilities and Pitfalls" workshop, cosponsored with the Lawrence Journal-World, for journalism educators attending the July 30 through Aug. 2 national convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in Kansas City, Mo.

Gentry is active nationally as a consultant on convergence issues, helping newspapers and broadcast operations work together on content, advertising, promotions, online publishing and community outreach. He is a senior fellow at the Media Center of the American Press Institute and makes frequent presentations on convergence, change and management at API conferences.

Gentry received the Society of American Business Editors and Writers' Distinguished Achievement Award at the society's 40th anniversary meeting in April. The award has been presented annually since 1993 to those who have advanced business journalism. Gentry was the first executive director of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (1985-91).

Before joining the University of Nevada faculty in 1992, Gentry was an associate professor, assistant professor and instructor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism for almost 15 years.

Gentry received his Ph.D. in journalism with an emphasis on management and organizational behavior from the University of Missouri in 1993.