TCU’s Schieffer School will get a new director next June

by PegNews wire

John Lumpkin, currently V.P. for newspaper markets and former bureau chief for the AP, has been appointed as the new director of Texas Christian University's Schieffer School of Journalism.

Set to replace interim director Dr. John Tisdale on June 1, 2009, Lumpkin has already won the approval of Bob Schieffer himself, after whom the journalism school is named. Says Bob: “John is an excellent choice. He brings the kind of real world experience that we need to take the school to a new level. He is widely known and greatly respected in the journalism community and we are fortunate to get him."

Lumpkin worked on the staff of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram before joining the AP in 1971; before becoming a corporate officer he served as a correspondent and bureau chief in Texas, North Carolina and Iowa, so he brings a range of regional and national experience to the position. (He also co-authored this interesting looking title on West Texas.)

According to Lumpkin, TCU's plans to upgrade the school's curriculum to provide students with a rich multi-media learning experience are a great idea - but he emphasizes that "the foundation of our professional school will continue to be the thoughtful preparation of journalists and communicators in the bedrock principles of accuracy, fairness, objectivity and ethics."

Hard to argue with an agenda like that.

posted by JM / source: TCU