Professor of Journalism and Media Studies and former JMS Department Chair Susan Keith has been named associate dean for programs at SC&I. She succeeds Dafna Lemish, who left the position to become interim dean.

“The school needs a full-time leader to attend to the many programmatic issues in the school and to be part of the leadership team more broadly,” Lemish said, announcing Keith’s promotion. “Given the responsibilities of this role, the position requires a full professor who has served as chair of a department and is willing to commit to several years to help the transition of deans. Susan Keith has served as JMS chair, as president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and has significant programmatic experience.”

Through her research, Keith studies the evolving practices of journalism, journalistic content (especially visual content and coverage of war and conflict), and legal and ethical concerns related to journalism. Her research has appeared in scholarly journals such as Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Visual Communication Quarterly, Journalism Studies, and Media, War & Conflict.

She has taught conceptual courses in media law at the undergraduate, master’s and Ph.D. levels and skills-based and conceptual courses in editing and design, media ethics and law, and global media at the undergraduate level.

“I am honored to join the leadership team at SC&I,” Keith said. “I am deeply interested in issues around programs, curricula, and teaching and how public universities serve students at multiple levels in today’s challenging higher education environment. I look forward to working with my colleagues across SC&I to meet the contemporary challenges.”

Keith is the co-editor, with Professor Raluca Cozma of Kansas State University, of Teaching Journalism Online: A Handbook for Journalism Educators, published in 2023 by UNESCO, with the support of the World Journalism Education Council. She is also editing a volume on journalism and media pedagogy and is under contract to update a textbook on digital media law.

Keith joined the SC&I faculty in 2004. She served as area coordinator for Media Studies in the Ph.D. program from 2010-2012, and as interim area coordinator in fall 2013. She was the coordinator for the Digital Media track in the Master of Communication and Media program from 2012 to 2014. She served as chair of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies from 2016 to 2020.

In spring 2019, Keith was elected vice president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, a national organization for professors of journalism and media. She became president elect of the AEJMC in October 2020 and president in October 2021. She has served as past president in 2022-2023.

Keith earned her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Before pursuing a doctorate, she spent 16 years working as a newspaper reporter, editor, and designer. She was a reporter for the Athens (Ala.) News-Courier, wire editor of The Cullman (Ala.) Times, a copy editor/page designer and weekend magazine editor of the Birmingham (Ala.) Post-Herald, a copy editor/page designer and assistant news features editor for Florida Today in Melbourne, and a copy editor/page designer in news and sports for the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, now known as the Tampa Bay Times.

“Please join me in wishing Susan good luck with this important role for our school!” Lemish said.  

Discover more about the Journalism and Media Studies Department on the Rutgers School of Communication and Information website.