Journalism Department Chairman Robert Zelnick announced Tuesday that he would be leaving the chairmanship June 1 to assume a less administrative role, and, barring resistance from the administration, would pass along the top position in the department to professor Lou Ureneck.
In parting from his position at the College of Communication, Zelnick, a 21-year ABC News reporter, said the simplest way to bring the journalism department “to the front rank” of the nation’s programs is to improve the faculty.
“The faculty is good,” he said in an interview, “but it can always be better.”
He also urged his successor to lobby for a “divorce” of the journalism department from the mass communication department (which encompasses advertising and public relations), which he says are too ideologically opposed to be taught in an all-encompassing setting. COM Dean John Schulz is a specialist in mass communication.
The chairman of the journalism department is responsible for reporting annually on the state of the department, reviewing the faculty’s performance and naming search committees to fill vacant faculty positions. The latter task, Zelnick said, is the most substantive of the chairman’s duties.
Zelnick noted that the faculty is currently looking to fill a seat recently vacated by professor Mike Berlin. Also, he said, a second seat is expected to open because a faculty member has “expressed his intention to leave.” Schulz would only confirm that a search was “well underway” to replace Berlin.
Schulz praised Zelnick for his job as chairman – a job both men admitted Zelnick did not ask for.
“His five years [as chairman] has marked a sharp increase in excellence,” Schulz said.
Zelnick took the job on an “emergency basis” when a search committee under former COM Dean Brent Baker could not agree to terms with its only viable candidate. Zelnick will now assume the title “Professor of National and International Affairs,” a new position that Zelnick, admittedly cannot distinguish from that of an ordinary professor. The time he will save after he relinquishes the chairman duties will be spent tackling various endeavors, including at least one new book and a blogging program sponsored by the British newspaper The Guardian.
Zelnick reaffirmed his commitment to the department, saying that he would continue to fight to get the journalism department accredited and maintain his longtime role as moderator of the biannual Great Debate. He said he would also continue to teach and that his classes would include Media Law and Ethics, as well as a graduate-level class on reporting techniques. He also plans to continue teaching his class on covering international terrorism next spring.
Both Schulz and Zelnick said they enjoyed a strong working relationship and enjoyed rounds of golf together in their spare time. But Schulz said he disagreed with Zelnick’s conviction to split mass communication from journalism because he doesn’t see how having the two departments under the same roof would harm the quality of education.
Zelnick formerly announced his decision to leave the position in a statement issued and sent to The Daily Free Press Tuesday night. He has been a professor at BU since 1998.
Ureneck, former deputy managing editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer and a BU professor since 2003, could not be reached for comment.