This afternoon, students will get a chance to hear from one of two candidates for the position of dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Sam L. Grogg, dean of University of Miami’s School of Communications, is one consideration to replace Dean David Rubin.

Grogg will address a student-only audience today at 1:45 p.m. in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse III. Lorraine Braham, professor at the University of Texas at Austin, is the second candidate under consideration. She will visit the Syracuse University campus on Jan. 29 to speak with students.

The meet and greet will give students the opportunity to hear from Grogg and ask him questions in an atmosphere uninhibited by the presence of faculty or staff.

Though the committee scheduled Grogg’s visit weeks ago, questions regarding his interest in SU surfaced in UMiami’s newspaper, The Miami Hurricane.

The Hurricane reported on Jan. 15 that Grogg sent an e-mail to UMiami faculty, stating that he had ‘no intention’ to leave Miami. The Hurricane also stated that Grogg informed the newspaper staff on Tuesday that he did not know if he would even visit Syracuse.

Chair of the search committee at SU, Vice President David C. Smith, responded to the article.

‘Dean Grogg has not been offered a position here as of this time, and so I don’t find it surprising that he would try to situate himself to make sure that he doesn’t compromise his situation,’ he said. ‘I’m a little uncomfortable speaking for him, but I have no reason to believe that he doesn’t consider himself a serious candidate here.’

Though The Hurricane claimed Grogg may not visit SU, Smith said he discussed airline information with Grogg on Wednesday afternoon and fully anticipates his arrival today.

The search committee undergraduate student representative, Miranda Villei, said the article raised some questions for her. She said students should feel free to ask Grogg about his comments in The Hurricane at his student meet and greet this afternoon.

‘The dean is a person that attracts students to the school, so it’s important for all the students to come to the Herg so that they can ask Sam Grogg questions and get to know a little more about him,’ Villei said.

Villei will co-facilitate the meeting, along with the search committee’s graduate student representative Soo Yeon Hong. All students are encouraged to e-mail their feedback to the two student representatives.

Because this is the first time in 18 years the school has had to select a new dean, Smith encouraged students to take advantage of the atypical opportunity.

‘This is really a pretty big event. This doesn’t happen every day. I’m hoping that we have a full room. That will also show the candidate something about us as a school,’ Smith said.

Grogg will spend today and Friday in meetings with faculty, staff and various university groups including admissions, student support, student affairs and fundraising.

The search committee went through a long process to narrow the dean search down to Grogg and Braham. After developing a position description in August, the committee received 300 nominations. The committee read through 63 applications before narrowing the pool to 13 prospects and now to these two candidates.

Braham and Grogg represent different fields of communications. Grogg has an extensive background in film and film making, whereas Braham’s expertise is in newspaper journalism. She spent 25 years working with newspapers such as the Baltimore Sun, Philadelphia Inquirer and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

‘You have two diverse candidates with diverse interests, and if there was a possibility to kind of clone them and bring them together that’d be ideal, but hopefully people will like both of them, and we’ll have the task of choosing which great candidate to pick,’ said associate dean and search committee member Joel Kaplan.

The search committee is composed of 14 members representing constituent interests of Newhouse staff, faculty and students, advisory board members and general university representatives. They do not choose the new dean, but they do recommend the candidate to provost Eric Spina, who makes the final decision.

Kaplan said he is eager for Grogg to meet the Syracuse community.

‘I’m excited to bring in two candidates and see whether or not they pass muster with the faculty, staff and students and to see if we have a new chapter in the Newhouse school,’ he said.

Box Info:

1:45-2:45 p.m.

Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse III.

Open to all students

Copies of both candidate’s transcripts available in Dean Grassi’s Office

Published on January 23, 2008 at 12:00 pm