After months of discussion, Arizona State University officials on Wednesday chose Chris Callahan to be founding dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
The journalism school, without a dean for more than a year and a part of the College of Public Programs, will become its own school in July. It is scheduled to move from the Tempe campus to the new downtown Phoenix campus.
Callahan, associate dean of journalism at the University of Maryland, will be the first dean of the independent journalism school at ASU.
"He has been invited by other schools to become a dean, but he always turned it down," said Steve Doig, interim director of the journalism school. "But he has an interest and enthusiasm for our program."
Even Walter Cronkite approves of Callahan, Terri Shafer, assistant vice president of the office of public affairs said in a statement.
The other finalists for the position were Ruth Walden, from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Mitchell Stevens, from New York University; and Joel Kaplan, from Syracuse University.
Officials have not yet announced Callahan’s salary.
