May 8, 1997 Contact John R. Crosiar (541) 346-3135 EUGENE--Timothy W. Gleason, a respected journalism educator and expert in communications law and ethics, was named Thursday (May 8) as interim dean of the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. John Moseley, UO provost and academic vice president, said Gleason's appointment is effective immediately. He will serve as dean during the 1997-98 academic year while a national search is launched to fill the post permanently by early 1998. A member of the UO journalism faculty since 1987, Gleason has been the school's associate dean for the past two years. His faculty colleagues nominated him for the interim position after an internal search. "We're very fortunate to have someone as experienced as Tim Gleason to serve as interim dean," Moseley said. "His work as associate dean, coupled with the strong support of his fellow faculty, will allow him to further build on the successful track record of Duncan McDonald." Gleason, 47, replaces Duncan McDonald, who became the university's vice president for public affairs and development on May 1. McDonald had headed the nationally recognized journalism school since July 1994. "During my tenure, I expect to continue the momentum developed over the past several years," Gleason said. "We will continue to review and improve our curriculum, and we will move forward with the improvements to our facilities in Allen Hall that are already underway." Founded in 1916, the UO School of Journalism and Communication is the oldest journalism education program in the Pacific Northwest and one of the oldest in the nation. This fall, the school--with 26 full-time faculty members--enrolled 1,053 undergraduate and 51 graduate students. Today, the UO journalism school offers a nationally accredited, comprehensive program at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Undergraduate majors include advertising, electronic media, communication studies, magazine journalism, news-editorial journalism and public relations. Graduate offerings include a master's degree program with academic, professional and creative nonfiction options and, since 1994, a doctoral degree program focusing on mass communication institutions. A 1980 journalism and communications graduate of SUNY, Empire State College, Gleason received a master's degree in communications history and law in 1983 and a doctoral degree in communications in 1986, both from the University of Washington. Gleason has had a varied career in journalism and academia, with experience as a free-lance photographer and photojournalist, as a photographer and editorial consultant, and as a newspaper general assignment reporter and photographer. Before coming to Oregon, he was an assistant professor of communications at the University of Utah during 1986-87. In his 10 years at Oregon, Gleason, an associate professor, has taught courses ranging from reporting and freedom of the press to photojournalism and communication research. With colleagues Al Stavitsky and William Ryan, he has developed courses on information gathering, net resources for journalism students and communication law for a distance education pilot project. Currently, he is developing a communication law site on the Internet. In 1990, Gleason was the first recipient of the journalism school's Jonathan Marshall Teaching Award for excellence in teaching. He also received a Poynter Institute for Media Studies Teaching Fellowship for Ethics Professors in 1992 and was one of 21 journalism educators selected in 1993 to attend the ninth annual Leadership Institute for Journalism and Mass Communication organized by the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center. A former member of the Oregon Daily Emerald board of directors, Gleason has represented the journalism school in the University Senate, chaired the school's curriculum committee and served in numerous other school and university posts. His professional affiliations include membership in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, the International Communication Association, the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Press Photographers Association. Gleason is the author or co-author of two books on communications law and a book chapter on communications ethics, as well as dozens of articles in professional journals. A member of editorial boards for American Journalism and Journalism History, he will finish a term as guest editor of Communication Law and Policy in June. Among Gleason's current research interests is a study of the First Amendment rights of public broadcasters undertaken with fellow journalism professor Al Stavitsky. A native of Atlantic City, N.J., Gleason is married to Jenny Ulum, chief executive officer of the Ulum Group, a Eugene public relations firm. -30- #O-2263/Local,OrDailies,PDX,Journ,Special