April 17, 2008

Finalists for MCMA dean to visit campus

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Members of the Southern Illinois University Carbondale campus community can meet with the three finalists for dean of the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts over the next two weeks.

The finalists are Douglas A. Ferguson, director of the Department of Communication’s graduate program at the College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C.; Maria R. Marron, professor and chair of the Department of Journalism, Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Mich., and Gary P. Kolb, interim dean of SIUC’s College of Mass Communication and Media Arts.

The three finalists will each spend two days interviewing on campus, and participate in candidate presentations and forums open to the campus community and the general public, beginning next week. Kolb’s visit is Monday and Tuesday, April 21 and 22; Ferguson visits the campus Thursday and Friday, April 24 and 25, and Marron’s visit is Monday and Tuesday, April 28 and 29.

Each of the finalists will speak on “Challenges and Opportunities Facing Mass Communication and Media Arts at SIUC.”

Kolb’s presentation and open forum is 2 to 2:45 p.m., Monday, April 21, in the Communication Building, Studio A.

The specific itineraries for Ferguson and Marron are not yet final.

The college offers undergraduate and graduates degrees from the departments of Cinema & Photography and Radio-Television and the School of Journalism. The college also is home to the Broadcasting Service and Global Media Research Center.

Ferguson came to the College of Charleston in 1999 as the first chair in the Department of Communication, and now serves as program director of the department’s graduate program. He served for three years as editor of the Broadcast Education Association’s “Journal of Radio Studies.”

Prior to arriving at the College of Charleston, Ferguson was at Bowling Green State University from 1987 to 1999, beginning as a teaching fellow in BGSU’s Department of Telecommunications. Serving as an instructor, assistant professor and association professor during his tenure there, Ferguson also was assistant dean, resources and planning, in the university’s College of Arts & Sciences for three years. He chaired the Department of Telecommunications at BGSU from 1997 to 1999.

Ferguson earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in speech communication at The Ohio State University. He earned a doctorate in mass communication from BGSU, where he named Outstanding Doctoral Student for two straight years. His non-academic experience includes 13 years at WILO-TV, the NBC affiliate in Lima, Ohio, where he was station manager for eight years.

Marron came to Central Michigan University in January 2002 as professor and chair in the Journalism Department, where she is also a member of the graduate school faculty. Her academic experience dating back to 1988 includes positions with University College Dublin, in Dublin, Ireland, where she was director of the MBA programs in Smurfit Graduate School of Business; Southwest Texas State University — now Texas State University-San Marcos — from 1993 to 1997 and 2000 to 2001, where her last position was associate professor in the Department of Mass Communication, and Zayed University, United Arab Emirates from 1998 to 2000, where her last position was assistant dean in the College of Communication and Media Services.

Marron’s extensive non-academic experience includes reporting and editing in several newspapers in Ireland and the United States. From 1981 to 1983, she was editor of the Nenagh Tribune in Nenagh, County Tipperary, where she was the youngest, and only female editor of a weekly newspaper in Ireland. From 1984 to 186 Marron served as public information officer for The Youth Employment Agency in Dublin, Ireland. During the summer 1989, she served as an editor/faculty adviser for The Pottsville Republican, in Pottsville, Penn. During the summer 1993, Marron served as a reporter for the Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C., and in summer 2003, she was a copy editor at The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel as part of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Institute for Journalism Excellence program.

She earned her doctorate in journalism/mass communications from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. She earned a master’s degree in journalism from The Ohio State University, a higher diploma in education from University College Dublin, Ireland, and a bachelor’s degree in English, French and Latin also from University College Dublin, Ireland.

Kolb, a professor and director of the college’s New Media Center, has served as interim dean since May 2007 in place of Manjunath Pendakur, who left to become dean of the Dorothy Schmidt College of Arts and Letters at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla.

Kolb’s association with the college dates back to 1979 as an assistant professor in the Department of Cinema & Photography. In 1985 he became an associate professor, and in 1998 a professor in the department. He served as department chair from 1994 to 1997, and held the post of acting chair on three other occasions. Kolb served as acting director of New Media Center and Interactive Multimedia Master’s Program in 2002 to 2003, and as associate dean and director of The New Media Center from 2003 to 2007.

Kolb earned a master’s degree in photography from Ohio University, and a bachelor’s degree in history and literature of religions from Northwestern University.