ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Keith Woods, Dean of Faculty at Poynter since 2005, has resigned to accept the role of Vice President, Diversity in News and Operations at National Public Radio.
Karen B. Dunlap, president of Poynter, a school dedicated to teaching practitioners and teachers of journalism, announced Woods’ resignation, effective February 1, and applauded his achievements as Dean.
“Keith is an outstanding leader,” Dunlap said. “He has been key in focusing our efforts in four areas: sense-making, entrepreneurial journalism, transformation of news, and skills and values in multimedia reporting. Keith also has been a major factor in securing grants for each area. We regret his departure and wish him the very best.”
Dunlap announced that Stephen Buckley, Publisher of tampabay.com, will take a 10-week leave from the St. Petersburg Times online service and act as Poynter’s interim Dean. She said Buckley will confer with faculty and lend his expertise to Poynter’s evolving work on the delivery of news and information on mobile devices.
During the interim period, Dunlap said, the Institute will examine its current academic structure before deciding how to fill the vacancy created by Woods’ departure.
Woods, who joined the faculty at Poynter from the Times Picayune in New Orleans in 1995, has specialized in the teaching of diversity and the media’s coverage of race relations. He has written extensively about how news organizations handle race relations and diversity in the newsroom, boardrooms, newspapers and broadcasts, and is co-author of “The Authentic Voice/The Best Reporting on Race & Ethnicity.”
“It’s hard to leave Poynter,” Woods said. “I’ve grown as a teacher, a leader and as a person over the past 15 years, and I’ve learned from some of the most passionate and creative teachers and practitioners in journalism. Poynter has never been more important to the profession.
“I could only leave for a place like NPR. I’ll work with the network and throughout public radio to help an extraordinary news organization make real the ideals for which I’ve advocated these many years. Poynter has prepared me well for this new adventure.”
About The Poynter Institute
Founded in 1975 in St. Petersburg, Fla., The Poynter Institute (www.poynter.org) is one of the nation’s top schools for professional journalists, future journalists and journalism teachers. Poynter offers training throughout the year in the areas of online and multimedia, leadership and management, reporting, writing and editing, TV and radio, ethics and diversity, journalism education and visual journalism. Poynter’s News University (www.newsu.org) offers training to journalists and journalism students through interactive e-learning modules and links to other journalism education and training opportunities.
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