TCU appoints new director of Schieffer School of Journalism

Fort Worth, TX

12/22/2008

TCU announced that John Lumpkin, a vice president and former bureau chief for Associated Press, has been named director of the Schieffer School of Journalism at TCU. Lumpkin will begin his role as director June 1.

“John is an excellent choice,” said Bob Schieffer moderator of CBS News Face the Nation and a TCU alumnus for whom the journalism school is named.  “He brings the kind of real world experience that we need to take the school to a new level. He is widely known and greatly respected in the journalism community and we are fortunate to get him.  

“The fact we were able to attract a person of John’s caliber is yet another indication of the growing reputation for excellence that our program has already established,” Schieffer said. “We are aiming to be nothing less than the best program in the country and John is a fine choice to help us get there.”

Lumpkin, a graduate of the University of Virginia, worked with the Richmond, Va., Times-Dispatch and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram before joining AP, the world's largest newsgathering organization, in 1971.  Since then, he served as a correspondent and bureau chief in Texas, North Carolina and Iowa before becoming a corporate officer in 2003. He reported on the Watergate-related Milk Fund Scandal and directed coverage of numerous major news stories, including the two space shuttle disasters, the political rise of George W. Bush and the 51-day Branch Davidian siege in Waco.

"The obligation for someone who is named director of the Schieffer School is to live up to the standards and the commitment to journalism that Bob Schieffer has done throughout his professional life,” said Lumpkin. “I am both humbled and honored to be chosen as the one who should do that."


“TCU has a valuable asset in the Schieffer School and vice versa.  Media is in the midst of tectonic shifts - both in what we describe as 'news' and what is just as important, strategic communication.  Our school is uniquely situated to prepare students for what will be instead of what has been.”

Lumpkin currently is AP vice president for newspaper markets in the U.S. and Latin America.  He is responsible for AP revenue from newspaper companies in the hemisphere, as well as the U.S. domestic bureau chief system. He held company positions in strategic planning and has been involved in AP's shift to multi-media news distribution.  

“With the assistance of Dr. John Tisdale, interim director and journalism professor for the Schieffer School, and Dr. David Whillock, dean of the College of Communications, TCU found the ideal professional for this position. John has a stellar and extensive communication background which will provide Schieffer School students a crucial advantage as they launch careers in a competitive and ever-changing communication landscape,” said TCU Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr.

The Schieffer School has plans to build on a multi-media learning experience that is already in place for its students in journalism and strategic communication. Changes in curriculum and facilities are being addressed.

"However," said Lumpkin, "the foundation of our professional school will continue to be the thoughtful preparation of journalists and communicators in the bedrock principles of accuracy, fairness, objectivity and ethics."

Lumpkin’s professional accomplishments include the Jack Douglas Award, an annual award presented by the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors for distinguished service to Texas journalism and Texas APME.  He was honored by former Texas A&M journalism for his efforts to save A&M’s journalism program and also won awards in specialty writing. He is a member of the Inter-American Press Association, which is dedicated to free press throughout North and South America, and a former director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. He co-wrote “West Texas, a Portrait of its People and Their Raw and Wondrous Land”, with former AP Correspondent Mike Cochran.

Lumpkin’s wife Eileen is a TCU journalism graduate and former reporter for the school's award-winning newspaper, The Daily Skiff.  Their older son, John, is a former editor of the Skiff and a Pentagon reporter for AP.  He now teaches journalism at Metro State University in Denver, Colo.   Their other son, Robin, is involved in research of combat veterans at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Richmond, Va.

The Schieffer School of Journalism is a part of TCU's College of Communications, which also includes the departments of communications studies and radio, television and film (RTVF).  Lumpkin joins the school's new dean, Dr. David Whillock, who was appointed to his post earlier this year.

The Schieffer School offers undergraduate degrees in news-editorial in newspaper and magazine as well as news-editorial degrees with an emphasis in photojournalism and publication design; broadcast journalism; strategic communication; and international communication in global strategic communication and news-editorial. It offers graduate degrees in news-editorial and strategic communication. Student-managed media include the 106-year old award-winning newspaper The Daily Skiff, Image Magazine, SkiffTV and a broadcast news show called TCU News Now. For more information, visit www.schiefferschool.tcu.edu.

Bob Schieffer is broadcast journalism's most experienced Washington reporter. He is the moderator of Face The Nation, CBS News' Sunday public affairs broadcast and the network's chief Washington correspondent. In addition, Schieffer served as interim anchor for The CBS Evening News from March 2005 – August 2006. Schieffer has covered Washington for CBS News for more than 30 years and is one of the few broadcast or print journalists to have covered all four major beats in the nation's capital -- the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and Capitol Hill. He has been chief Washington correspondent since 1982 and congressional correspondent since 1989 and has covered every presidential campaign and been a floor reporter at all of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions since 1972. In addition, this year he moderated the final presidential debate between Republican presidential candidate John McCain and president-elect Barack Obama. He began anchoring Face The Nation in May 1991.

Established in 1873, TCU is a private university located in Fort Worth, Texas, with more than 8,600 students.  The university offers 116 undergraduate majors, 16 graduate degrees and four graduate certificates in 58 fields and 13 doctoral fields of study. More information is available at http://www.tcu.edu.