John Thomas Kerr Jr. Distinguished Professor

Ph.D., University of Minnesota
M.A., University of Texas at Austin
B.J., University of Texas at Austin

From l979 to 2005, Profesor Richard Cole served as dean of the School. Cole led a strong group of faculty in moving the School into national rankings in the top five – and frequently the top one, two or three – journalism-mass communication programs. Cole has also led the School to increased international prestige through programs in Eastern Europe, Russia, Mexico, Cuba and Africa.

In summer 1992, Cole received the Freedom Forum Medal for Distinguished Accomplishments in Journalism-Mass Communication Administration. The award, given for lifetime achievements, had been given only three times previously. Cole, at 50, was the youngest person to have received it.

Cole was national president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in l982-83; membership was then more than 2,000 professors in the United States and other countries. He was national president of Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC) in l986-87. For l0 years, he was book-review editor (or co-editor) of Journalism Quarterly.

He holds a University-wide teaching excellence award at UNC-Chapel Hill, and he has been a member of many national and international boards, task forces and the like. He chaired the Freedom Forum's national Scholarship Committee for years and is chairman of the national Steering Committee of the Hearst Foundation's journalism awards program.

He was vice president of the national Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) in 1987-95 and has chaired or been a member of national accrediting teams to more than 35 mass-communication schools, more than any other person.

He has been a consultant to several state governments and more than 30 universities in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Russia, Cuba, Chile and the United Arab Emirates. For eight years, he was a vice president of the worldwide International Association for Mass Communication Research (IAMCR). He also served as chief judge of the H.L. Mencken Writing Award for eight years.

He is editor of the book titled Communication in Latin America: Journalism, Mass Media and Society (1996), the co-author of a book and the author of articles in Journalism Quarterly, Gazette: The International Journal for Mass Communication Studies, American Behavioral Scientist, Journalism Educator and other scholarly publications. He has concentrated on research in three areas: international communication, concerns of professional journalists and education for journalism-mass communication. He is listed in Who's Who in America.

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