Media Relations
News Releases
For Release Upon Receipt - May 13, 2003
Contact:
Kevin Carleton, 617/353-2240, carleton@bu.edu
Colin Riley, 617-353-2240, criley@bu.edu
BRENT BAKER TO STEP DOWN AS DEAN OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY'S COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION
Will Return to Teaching After One-year Sabbatical
(Boston, Mass.)—Dean and Professor of Communication Brent Baker today announced to the College of Communication faculty and staff that he will retire as dean effective July 31, 2003, having served as dean for 11 years. Baker came to Boston University in August 1992, after retiring from the United States Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral. A Vietnam veteran, he served in the Navy for more than 29 years, retiring as chief of information in the Pentagon.
Dean Baker thanked the faculty for their support and said he looked forward to having time, after many years of leadership activity, to do some long-delayed research. He will spend the 2003-04 academic year on sabbatical leave. Dean Baker expressed his thanks to Chancellor John Silber, former President Jon Westling and Provost Dennis Berkey for their support over the last 11 years.
Baker said, “I was a teaching dean from day one, and that has been one of the highlights of my academic life. It has allowed me to lead Boston University's College of Communication into the 21st Century. We have achieved a teaching balance of traditional emphasis on critical thinking and writing, and the integration of new digital tools to the college. Our students and faculty are on the leading edge of communication education—second to none. I also want to give a special thanks to my students, who have been a joy to teach and to learn from.”
Chancellor Silber expressed his appreciation for Baker’s loyal and vigorous leadership for the College of Communication over the past decade. He noted in particular the high achievements of the College’s students and alumni, the strengthening of the liberal arts component of the College’s curriculum, and the several new graduate concentrations that Baker developed in recent years. Berkey cited Baker’s strong commitment to inter-school cooperation and alumni relations as important hallmarks of Baker’s deanship.
Dr. John Schulz, professor of international communication at Boston University since 1995, will succeed Baker as dean. Schulz, who received his master’s and doctorate in international relations from Oxford University, England, in 1979 and 1981, and a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Montana in 1962, is a former foreign correspondent, chief of correspondents, and deputy news director for the Voice of America News, a former member of the faculty at the National War College and an expert on international communication, arms control, and national security affairs.
From 1992 to 1995 he was editor-in-chief of Arms Control Today magazine. He was decorated 23 times while flying 275 combat missions in F-100 Supersabres out of Bien Hoa Airbase, Vietnam in 1967 and 1968.
In 2001, he won the first-ever Professor of the Year Award from Boston University’s Inter-Fraternity and Sorority Council (IFSC).
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