Boston University Department of Journalism Chair Lou Ureneck is stepping down after four years as department head, BU officials said.
College of Communication Dean Tom Fiedler said that although department heads can reapply to their positions once their terms have expired, Ureneck is not.
“[He’s] taking up a lot of projects,” Fiedler said. “[He has] a lot of very interesting irons in the fire.”
He added that Ureneck wants to focus on journalism instead of what Fiedler calls “administrivia.”
A search committee has undertaken the task of finding a new department head, Fiedler said.
The committee started advertising for the position in February. Although the application deadline was March 15, it will still consider qualified candidates after that date, Fiedler said.
“We’re doing a national search,” he said.
Fiedler explained that the search committee is made up of six people in accordance with university bylaws. The faculty of the department elect three of the committee members and Fiedler himself appoints the remaining three, he said.
In a process spelled out by the faculty handbook, the committee makes a recommendation to Fiedler, whose recommendation is then either approved or rejected by the university provost and trustees.
Fiedler said he is unsure “whether there’s a diverse pool of applicants,” as the process is closed to anyone other than the search committee. However, he said that a concern for diversity guides the procedure.
“It’s written into the process… that the pool we draw is appropriate for gender selection and racial diversity,” he said.
Prior to his post at BU, Ureneck was deputy managing editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, and before that served as editor and vice president of The Portland Press Herald, according to his biography on the COM website.
His memoir, “Backcast: Fatherhood, Fly-fishing and a River Journey Through the Heart of Alaska,” won the National Outdoor Book Award.
Staff writer Jaime Lutz contributed reporting to this article.
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