Brooks To Return To Corporate Media World

4-15-98
University Park, Pa. -- Terri Brooks, dean of the College of Communications at The Pennsylvania State University, today announced her resignation from her responsibilities as dean, effective June 30.

Brooks plans to return to the corporate media world in early 1999 after her six years at Penn State, during which the College of Communications achieved new prominence. She will remain at Penn State at the request of President Graham Spanier until Dec. 31, to assist in the planning for a proposed new school of information sciences and technology.

"Terri's leadership was instrumental in the growth of the College and its rise to national prominence," says Spanier. "We will miss her vision and energy, but I've asked her to remain with the University until the end of the year to assist with the planning for a proposed new Penn State school of information sciences and technology. She has served on my Committee on Information Science and Technology and can bring her wealth of administrative experience and communications knowledge to this important initiative."

Brooks came to Penn State from New York University, where she was chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication and a tenured member of the Faculty of Arts and Science. She began her career in journalism with the Chicago Tribune, and is author of hundreds of articles for national magazines and newspapers, as well as three nonfiction books. Before coming to Penn State, she served as a media consultant with the Japan Information Center in New York and E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. in Wilmington, Del.

"I've been interested for some time in returning to my professional media roots and becoming part of the revolution in communications technology that is transforming society and altering our personal lives," says Brooks, who is considering a number of options in media.

"The work I was brought here to do has been successfully completed. Penn State is a hard place to leave, but this is the right time for a smooth transition. The College is on the national map, held in very high regard, and has a great future ahead of it."

During her administration as dean, the College undergraduate student enrollment grew 65% to 2,800 pre-majors and majors, making it the third largest communications program in the country. Under her leadership, the communications program was upgraded from "school" to full "College" status; corporate, foundation and private giving multiplied tenfold; and new national programs, industry advisory boards, and professional-in-residence programs were created.

During her tenure, there were significant faculty hires that increased the national reputations of individual programs; increases in faculty research productivity; new initiatives to strengthen the quality of teaching and service learning; a rise in the retention of minority students; growth in student internships and job placement; creation of a semester-long program in Washington, D.C.; and the launching of the College's first Ph.D. program.

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For more information, contact Christy Rambeau or Alan Janesch, Department of Public Information, 814/865-7517.