Texas gives go-ahead for UNT journalism school

by Bryan Shettig of North Texas Daily

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved UNT's request for the Department of Journalism to become its own school on Monday. The Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism will become independent of the College of Arts and Sciences starting Sept. 1 according to a statement released Monday. UNT's Board of Regents approved the reorganization of the department in February.

"This is the culmination of our desires to become a school over several decades," said Mitch Land, director of the Mayborn Graduate School of Journalism and chairman of the journalism department. "It's a team effort."

The move makes UNT's school the only publicly-funded journalism school in North Texas, Land said.

Provost Wendy Wilkins will establish a search committee soon to find a dean for the school, Land said.

Breaking off from the College of Arts and Sciences will give the school more national attention, Land said, but will also mean some extra work. That work will eventually require some more staff, including a possible full-time advancement, or fundraising, staff member.

Land said several journalism schools were studied in the run-up to the proposal, including those at Columbia University, the University of Missouri and the University of Texas at Austin.

The Mayborn Graduate School of Journalism was founded in 1999 and named after Frank W. & Sue Mayborn, the former who created a newspaper group, co-owned the Temple Daily Telegram, published several other papers and established radio and television stations.