January 12, 2006

Lavine named Medill dean

John Lavine will be the new dean of the Medill School of Journalism. Northwestern President Henry S. Bienen and Provost Lawrence B. Dumas announced the appointment, which took effect Jan. 9. Lavine succeeds current Dean Loren Ghiglione.

“As founding director of Northwestern’s Media Management Center, John Lavine brings extraordinary strengths to this position and an exciting vision for what Medill should be in the 21st century,” Dumas said. “We will support that vision with a major new investment in the School.”

Bienen added, “In a time when the role of the media is changing and being challenged — and with John Lavine’s leadership and the University’s investment — we are confident that the School will play a significant role in shaping the future of journalism and integrated marketing communications.”

Lavine said, “There are seismic challenges in journalism that put at risk having an informed society. Moving quality journalism to a new, higher level is an important first step of our response, but by itself that will not meet these challenges. We need to develop a more profound understanding of audiences and consumers, of what they value and of how to present journalism and the new digital media to them. We also need to have a far deeper understanding of media brands and marketing communications and how to use them to engage media audiences.

“Medill has unique assets to accomplish this. Its faculties of journalism and of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) are already among the best in the country, but in the past they have operated separately. IMC measures and manages consumer experiences with brands. Now, building on the strategic goals developed by the combined faculties, we will urgently work together to remake the school’s entire undergraduate and graduate curricula to teach our students how to meet these challenges and prepare for the next ones.

Lavine concluded, “Our students already have experience outside of the school, but in this process we will ensure that our graduates have even more exposure to every media platform in a variety of challenging, professional settings. When this sweeping change is done, we will create a guarantee for employers: Medill graduates will know more about how to engage and reach media audiences with 21st-century, quality journalism, media and integrated marketing communications than anyone else they can find.”

An expert on media strategy and management, Lavine holds appointments as a professor of media management and strategy in both Medill and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. Under his leadership, the Media Management Center is recognized internationally for its cutting-edge media research and senior executive education.