FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 1, 2005

CONTACT:
Ronda Menke, SJMC, (515) 271-3167 (o); (515) 205-1034 (c)
Lisa Lacher, Drake Marketing & Communications, (515) 202-1773

PRIJATEL NAMED DIRECTOR OF DRAKE JOURNALISM SCHOOL

Patricia Prijatel, E.T. Meredith Distinguished Professor of Magazine Journalism, has been named director and associate dean of Drake University's School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC).

Charles C. Edwards Jr., dean of Drake's School of Journalism and its College of Business and Public Administration, said Prijatel will be responsible for SJMC faculty and curriculum development and the school's budget.

"In her 21 years at Drake, Professor Prijatel has made the magazine sequence 'arguably the best in the country,' in the words of our national accreditors," Edwards said. "She has brought extensive resources to the school of journalism, not least of which is development of the Meredith Center for Magazine Studies."

Prijatel said advancing the SJMC's strong professional programs and leadership in community service would be priorities. "Our talented, creative faculty prides itself on preparing Drake students to be leaders in communication," she said. "The amount of
public service done by students and faculty as part of that preparation is phenomenal. We just need to do a better job of promoting the many ways we integrate with and serve the broader community."

David Wright, associate professor of electronic journalism, will continue as assistant dean with responsibilities for student records and student affairs, working with prospective, new and transfer students as well as the current student body.

Edwards said the new administrative alignment was partially a response to the accrediting council's concerns raised in October. "While the accreditors were highly complimentary of our programs, they felt the faculty should be involved to a much greater extent in operational decision-making of the School," he said. " I worked closely with the faculty in configuring a team that will maintain the SJMC's strong, independent identity,"

In addition, Edwards said he wanted to be able to put more of his own efforts into external relationship and resource development for both the journalism and business schools at Drake as well as a new joint venture, the School of Management and Communication.

Drake's SJMC has a faculty of 13 with 480 students majoring in advertising, electronic media, magazines, news-Internet and public relations. A joint program with Drake's Law School offers students the opportunity to earn a bachelor's degree in journalism and mass communication and a law degree in six years rather than seven.

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