I am excited to announce that Amy Falkner—a longtime leader in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University—has been appointed as the next dean of Ithaca College’s Roy H. Park School of Communications. Amy will begin her new position at IC on August 1, 2022.
From her early career in newspapers, through her years teaching in the classroom and conducting and presenting research, to serving for the past decade-and-a-half in academic leadership roles within a comprehensive communications education program, Amy has demonstrated the understanding and expertise that we have been seeking in our next Park School dean. Her experiences and qualities will serve our current and future Park School students well in preparing them for the ongoing transformation to the realm of digital media.
Indeed, in her current role as senior associate dean and previous service as both acting and interim dean of Newhouse, she has been responsible for advancing the school’s mission by leading the development of timely, relevant curricula; acquiring, allocating, and managing fiscal resources; maintaining and improving facilities; and attracting and retaining talented faculty and staff and exceptional students.
Amy is interested in bringing people together around a shared vision to achieve positive results, with a record of building cross-campus partnerships and joint graduate programs and of leading, inspiring, and motivating those who work for and with her. She has leveraged these strengths at the university level serving on the Strategic Planning Task Force and SU Abroad Council; and co-chairing the Free Speech Working Group, among other accomplishments. In the Newhouse School, she oversaw the development of the curriculum for the online digital communications master’s degree program and co-chaired the Undergraduate Online Degree Exploratory Committee; oversaw the Faculty Development Program; and helped cultivate a multimillion-dollar gift from the Newhouse Foundation.
Amy has also been active in the diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) space while assisting Syracuse University in finalizing its DEIA strategic plan. In the Newhouse School, this included implementing new faculty training on topics such as implicit bias, oversight of faculty recruitment, hiring and retention showing sustained growth in BIPOC and female faculty populations, holding listening sessions with students of color and their allies, being the point person for student bias reports, supporting intercultural events, and rolling out a new 3-credit diversity class required of all 2,000 Newhouse undergraduates.
As a researcher, Amy has studied the purchasing behaviors and media usage of LGBT consumers. For six years, she led the “Gay and Lesbian Consumer Online Census,” a national annual survey with 10,000 respondents intended to help Fortune 500 advertisers understand the complexities of the LGBT market. Results were used to develop and implement communications campaign strategies.
You can read more about Amy’s background and experience in this news story.
I offer my thanks to the search committee, chaired by associate professor Jack Bryant, and extend my deepest appreciation to professor Jack Powers, who has led the school for the past two years as interim dean.
Please join me in welcoming Amy as she brings her exceptional talents to our Ithaca College community.
Regards,
Melanie Stein
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs