Tobe Berkovitz was named College of Communication Dean ad interim Thursday and, despite his adamant promise to maintain the status quo, we are hard pressed to believe the school won’t be affected by the leadership and personality he’ll bring to the dean’s office.
However, since Berkovitz has worked so close with Schulz in the past, it is unlikely that major changes will take place in the day-to-day administrative workings of the college. Instead, students and faculty can expect a more positive rapport with the new dean.
Berkovitz is already a popular administrator and is well known around campus. We think his decision to accept the school’s leadership after Dean John Schulz’s resignation will positively affect the diverse personalities of students and faculty who call COM home.
One of the greatest benefits of choosing Berkovitz as the new dean will be his different style of leadership. While Schulz was a visible dean and known as a strong presence on campus, Dean Berkovitz is especially well liked by students for his warm greetings and upbeat attitude.
Already Berkovitz has shown an interest in dealing with students on a personal level, and if his work as an Ad Lab faculty advisor is any indication of how he will perform, then students should be able to find him highly approachable.
While Berkovitz has already said he does not plan to lead the school permanently, it will be refreshing for COM students to experience what life is like under a new, more receptive dean.
Overall, we want to see President Robert Brown and the yet-unformed dean search committee look outside the university for a fresh face to fill this difficult and often controversial position.
The new dean must be a unifier; a leader who can deftly manage the conflicting ideologies of COM’s three academic departments. It is difficult to train both journalists and spin doctors — professional who will be playing on opposite teams in the real world — within the same school, but it can be done.
Berkovitz’s replacement must be a jack-of-all-trades: an administrator, an educator and a professional with experience from the field. It’s a tall order, but only this kind of leader can take the reins of such a complicated and contentious school.
COM faculty, it seems, clash more often and more passionately than their colleagues in other schools, and COM’s next leader must be someone who can manage that conflict without alienating any one side.
But for now, Berkovitz’s ability to deal with the many differing faculty at the university is the right prescription for COM’s future success.