The search for the next Scripps College of Communication dean will continue after the first round ended in failure.
Ohio University extended an offer to one of two finalists for the position, but “negotiations over terms of employment were not successful,” according to Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit's letter sent to faculty and staff.
Angela Powers, a professor and the director of the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kansas State University, and Laurence Alexander, a journalism professor and associate dean of the University of Florida’s Graduate School, both visited campus in early November to interview for the job. Benoit did not specify who was offered the job but noted that she “elected not to make an offer to the second candidate.”
Scott Titsworth, formerly the director of the School of Communication Studies, will continue to serve as interim dean. The search for a new dean will resume in the fall.
“I am grateful to Scott for his willingness to accept this extension,” Benoit said in the letter. “I am confident that under his leadership the college will continue to make progress on all of its important goals.”
Greg Shepherd, the former dean, left OU in June for a similar position at the University of Miami. He was one of 163 OU employees who took a buyout option, and left with $80,000 from the university.
Benoit recommended a “vigorous recruitment campaign” for the remainder of the academic year and said she would accept proposals from schools to “bring potential candidates to campus during Winter and Spring quarters to give talks and interact with students, faculty and staff.”
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