Criteria ranked for importance in the academic leadership of journalism programs: a survey

Literature has shown scant attention to the selection and important characteristics of college and university journalism program administrators. This study—based on a mail survey of 519 journalism faculty members, journalism administrators, and presidents, at BA-, MA-, and PhD-granting institutions—offers ranked lists of criteria seen as important in such administration. It was done so that search committees, charged with hiring journalism program administrators, would have a benchmark from which to begin the search.

The study sought criteria through review of the literature and through interviews with the involved constituencies. The overall rank-order results, from most important to least, were: Leadership, Creative Planning, Personality, Using Institution Resources, Professional Media Experience, Outside Contacts, Keeping Cool, Fundraising, Research Interests, and Terminal Degree.

Several groups, differentiated by job and degree granted by institution, ranked the criteria slightly differently. Analysis of results was done using analysis of variance and the Kendall Coefficient of Concordance. For all groups, leadership was the most important criterion while research interests and terminal degree were least important. Additionally, all groups were homogeneous in their own separate rankings of the criteria.

While these lists cannot incorporate the "hidden" criteria that might be part of the search--racial prejudice and sexual stereotyping, for instance--they do provide a solid reflection of what a variety of persons in a variety of settings view as important in journalism program administration.