TCU appoints new associate director of Schieffer School of Journalism

Fort Worth, TX

6/17/2009

John Tisdale, interim director of the Schieffer School for the 2008-2009 academic year, has been named associate director of the Schieffer School of Journalism at TCU.  Tisdale, who has been at TCU since 2002, began his new role in June.  Tisdale also teaches media writing and media history classes.

“TCU and the Schieffer School are very fortunate to have John Tisdale ready and willing to take on a permanent position in the leadership of our school," said John Lumpkin, director of the Schieffer School.

In addition to serving as interim director, he chaired search committees that resulted in the appointment of Dr. David Whillock as dean of the College of Communications and John Lumpkin as director of the Schieffer School.

"My role is to help our new director and the rest of our faculty achieve the goal of providing our students with an education that prepares them for the 21st century," said Tisdale.  "I believe that we have a window of opportunity to make the Schieffer School competitive with the most prestigious journalism programs in the country."

Prior to joining the TCU faculty in 2002, Tisdale taught journalism at Lamar University and Baylor University. He worked as a reporter or copy editor at the Beaumont (Texas) Enterprise, Columbus (Miss.) Commercial-Dispatch, Orange (Texas) Leader, Temple (Texas) Telegram, and the Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald.

Tisdale earned a master's and doctorate in American history while advising the student newspaper at Baylor. He has recently published articles in The Oral History Review, the Journal of Mississippi History, and the Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record. His research area focuses on Southern journalism in the civil rights era of the 1950s.

The Schieffer School of Journalism has also begun construction on a 2,350 square-feet multi-platform media convergence lab designed to teach students in the Schieffer School how to achieve a converged media impact using audio, photography, video and print. 

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.