In 2004, the School of Communication Studies invited Dr. Stanley Wearden, professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State University, to serve as interim director. For Wearden the invitation was an opportunity to encourage interdisciplinary spirit among the schools in the College of Communication and Information. He brings a strong academic teaching background in journalism and mass communication as well as communication studies.
Wearden’s appointment occurred after Dr. Alan Rubin retired in the spring of 2004 as the Director of Communication Studies and a search for an interim director occurred.
Wearden saw the new position as an opportunity to give something back to Kent State University and repay it for all the wonderful opportunities it afforded him over the past 20 years. For Wearden, the reassignment from faculty to administrator is one more step in continuing the tradition of academic and research excellence that the School of Communication Studies has achieved on a national and international level.
Wearden has furthered this interdisciplinary spirit, according to Dr. James Gaudino, Dean of the College of Communication and Information.
“In the short time since his appointment as Interim Director of the School of Communication Studies, Professor Wearden has proved himself worthy of the faculty’s confidence,” Gaudino said.
Since taking over as interim director in August, Wearden has been working closely with both journalism and communication studies faculty and graduate students to assist in many facets of the education and research processes.
To date, collaborations and success stories include: a joint research project being conducted by Communications Studies doctoral student Jennifer Brubaker and Journalism and Mass Communication Assistant Professor Gary Hanson, a Communication Studies doctoral student who will be teaching a Journalism and Mass Communication course and participating in a funded Journalism and Mass Communication research project in the spring, a Journalism and Mass Communication faculty member who will be teaching a Communication Studies course in the spring, and a Communication Studies faculty member who will be teaching a Journalism and Mass Communication course in the spring.
Wearden brings a strong communication background to Communication Studies. He began his career in communication at West Virginia University where he earned a master of science in journalism degree. He then went on to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned his doctoral degree in Mass Communication Research.
In 1984 Wearden joined the Kent State faculty as an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. In 1989, he was named Coordinator of Graduate Studies for the JMC School. Two years later, Dr. Wearden was promoted to associate professor of journalism and mass communication, and in 2003 Wearden was promoted again to professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Wearden’s many academic honors and accomplishments include being awarded the Kent State Alumni Association’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2002 and being recognized by the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education with its Excellence in Teaching Award in 2003.
