Walter Cronkite School Dean Christopher Callahan was named to the American Society of News Editors Board of Directors last month, becoming the first journalism school dean to hold the position.
Callahan’s appointment, a three-year term to the 22-person Board of Directors, was announced at the ASNE 2011 Conference in April.
Callahan will help set new policies in ASNE, said ASNE Executive Director Richard Karpel. This will involve him attending meetings and overseeing operations, Karpel said.
Karpel said he expects Callahan to use his expertise in education to help shape the direction of ASNE.
“I’m there to help in any way I can,” Callahan said. “I’m hopeful about the kind of role I can play helping niche journalism education with newsrooms.”
Callahan calls his appointment to the board — along with that of James M. Brady, former executive editor of WashingtonPost.com — probably the first of more appointments indicating the changing forms of journalism.
“ASNE is reflecting a great change in the industry,” Callahan said. “Their approach is very different today as it was a few years ago.”
Tim McGuire, professor in the Cronkite School and former president of ASNE, said the society needs a lot of innovative thinkers in all fields right now. He said he thinks the choice of Callahan was a great move and calls him a pioneer in nontraditional journalism.
“Chris is the major dean in American journalism,” McGuire said.
McGuire as well as professor Rick Rodriguez are both former presidents of ASNE, and were both recruited to the Cronkite School by Callahan.
McGuire calls Callahan’s major accomplishments at the Cronkite School too numerous to count.
Since his arrival at ASU in 2005, Callahan has been responsible for the creation of the Reynolds High School Journalism Institute, the Knight Center for Digital Media and Entrepreneurship, the New Media Innovation Lab Cronkite News Service, Cronkite NewsWatch and the Arizona Republic Multimedia Reporting Program.
Callahan was also a major part of moving the Cronkite School to downtown Phoenix with its new, $71 million home in 2008.
Founded in 1922, the American Society of News Editors works to promote ethical journalism as well as protect and defend First Amendment rights of journalists and citizens.
Contact the reporter at omakinso@asu.edu
