IU selects Hamm for dean of journalism

It's taken two different search committees and a two-year nationwide hunt to find someone to replace Trevor Brown, the outgoing dean of the IU School of Journalism.\nIt won't take three.\nBradley Hamm, an associate dean of the School of Communications at Elon University in North Carolina, has been recommended to fill the shoes of Brown, who will retire at the end of this school year after leading the journalism school for 20 years.\nBefore taking the reins, Hamm still needs approval from the IU board of trustees. They are expected to finalize his appointment at the April meeting.\n"I think it's an exciting time. I'm honored that they chose me," Hamm said. "I believe that the journalism school has a tremendous future. And it has such a history." \nIU-Bloomington Interim Chancellor Ken Gros Louis made the final recommendation Monday. Gros Louis said he received recommendations from both the journalism dean search committee and the faculty. On Friday, he and IU President Adam Herbert discussed the selection of Hamm.\nHamm was a co-finalist with Christine Martin, the former dean of the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism at West Virginia University.\n"Both of the finalists I thought were very good," Gros Louis said. "I guess I felt that he seemed to fit in better with what I think of as the Bloomington culture and what I think of the journalism faculty. There's just sort of a gut feeling with (who) you think and feel would fit in best."\nHamm served as interim dean at Elon's School of Communications for one year and has served as associate dean since 2001. The Elon School of Communication, which includes journalism, broadcasting, film, advertising and public relations, is roughly comparable to the size of IU's School of Journalism. Elon is the third largest private college in North Carolina, following Duke and Wake Forest.\nHamm worked as a sports writer in the 1980s for The Salisbury Post in Salisbury, N.C. After completing graduate school, he worked as a broadcast editor for The Associated Press in South Carolina, covering the 1988 election in the state.\nHamm changed paths and decided to focus on journalism education after acquiring his master's degree at the University of South Carolina. He received his Ph.D. in mass communication research from the University of North Carolina in 1996. Hamm has taught at Elon since 1989 and was appointed as an assistant professor in 1995.\nDan Drew, associate dean of IU journalism graduate studies and the chairman of the journalism dean search committee, said Hamm had strong support from the committee and alumni. He fulfilled what Drew called "a nice balance."\n"He's had significant professional experience, strong administrative experience and good academic experience," Drew said. "He had the nice balance we were looking for."\nHamm said one of the issues he plans to focus on when he arrives at IU is faculty recruitment. He said because a number of senior journalism faculty members will retire in the next five to seven years, it gives IU a chance to reel in premium professors.\nGros Louis said he hopes Hamm will be aggressive in hiring faculty, especially in bringing high profile figures in journalism to the IU program. At Elon, Hamm recruited a Pulitzer Prize winner and the president of the American Journalism Historians Association for the school's faculty. \n"He has been very successful at enhancing the diversity of the faculty at Elon," Gros Louis said, suggesting emphasis of that hiring scheme here. \nA quarter of Elon's new hires were minorities, and half were women. \nHamm also has a strong interest in international programs, which he said journalism students should embrace.\n"I think students, journalism students especially, can benefit from time in another culture," Hamm said. "There's a wonderful study abroad program at IU, and we want to be a big player in the international education of journalists."\nHamm said he hopes to bring the lessons he's learned at Elon to IU with him. Though he's leaving Elon, it will hold a place in his heart.\n"Elon -- it's a special place," Hamm said. "There's no doubt that only a place such as Indiana would cause me to move. There are very few programs in the nation that I would go to besides staying at Elon."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.