By Ralph Derickson

Beth Barnes

“Dr. Barnes is an outstanding academician whose experience and reputation in journalism education should serve us well here at UK.”

-- J. David Johnson, dean of the UK College of Communications and Information Studies

April 4, 2003 (Lexington, Ky.) -- The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees today named Beth Barnes, a Syracuse University advertising professor and assistant dean, as the new director of the School of Journalism and Telecommunications effective July 1. She succeeds acting Director Richard Wilson, who has held the post since last summer.

“Dr. Barnes is an outstanding academician whose experience and reputation in journalism education should serve us well here at UK,” said J. David Johnson, dean of the UK College of Communications and Information Studies.

Barnes will join UK as a professor of journalism and is expected to teach at least one course in the school’s Integrated Strategic Communications (advertising) sequence. She is the ninth director of the nearly 1,000-student school.

Barnes achieved national recognition in recent years for her work in various activities overseen by the Association of Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. She is currently chair of the national Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.

Barnes joined the faculty at Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in mid-1985. She has taught courses at both graduate and undergraduate levels, served on numerous campus committees, and won a teaching excellence award in 1997. She assumed her current position as assistant dean for professional graduate studies in 2001 after serving for nearly four years as chair of the Newhouse school’s advertising department.

Previously, she was a faculty member of Pennsylvania State University, Northwestern University, and Miami (Ohio) University. Barnes has also held marketing and advertising posts in industry and was president of the Syracuse Ad Club last year. She is the author or co-author of numerous articles and several books.

Barnes has a doctorate in communication studies and a Master of Science degree in advertising from Northwestern University. She received a bachelor’s degree in English language and literature at the College of William and Mary in Virginia.