Steve Coll Named Columbia Journalism Dean

Mr. Coll will succeed Nicholas Lemann, whose decade-long tenure will end on July 1.

“Steve Coll is one of the most experienced and respected journalists of his generation,” the president, Lee C. Bollinger, said in a statement. “Sweeping changes in digital technology and the global marketplace have created unprecedented challenges and opportunities for the news media that demand our constant reflection on the mission and substance of a modern journalism education.”

Mr. Coll’s résumé skews toward traditional publications with a strong print identity. As a reporter he won a Pulitzer in 1990 for a series of Post articles, reported with David A. Vise, about the Securities and Exchange Commission. One of his books, “Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the C.I.A., Afghanistan and Bin Laden, From the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001,” won a Pulitzer for nonfiction in 2005.

Mr. Coll served as The Post’s managing editor from 1998 to 2004, during which time, he said, he led its transition to the Web. For the past five years he ran the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan public policy institute that identifies “technology and innovation” as one of its interests.

The institution that Mr. Coll, 54, will take over, now celebrating its centennial, is much changed from the one Mr. Lemann inherited.

In addition to bringing in 20 new full-time faculty members, introducing a second master’s program and helping raise $167 million, Mr. Lemann has been credited with raising the Journalism School’s academic profile. But the industry itself has changed even faster, with a greater emphasis today on digital platforms and with fewer full-time positions for students to graduate into.

Mr. Coll said he hoped to enhance the practical experience that a Columbia journalism degree required. Describing his vision, he invoked the model of medical school. “You get a very rigorous formal education, and toward the end of it you end up practicing and learning in a way that’s not static at all,” he said. “You’re being given the tools to innovate.”

Despite a distinguished record at Occidental College, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and cum laude, Mr. Coll has not otherwise oriented himself toward academia. “I’m in a lot of classrooms,” he said, lecturing on topics like South Asia, “but I’ve not taught a course from start to finish before, so I’m looking forward to learning.”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/nyregion/steve-coll-named-columbia-journalism-dean.html?partner=rss&emc=rss