Wick Rowland served as dean and professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication from 1987-1999. 听He came to CU from the University of Illinois where he had been associate dean in the College of Communications and the founder of its media studies programs. He also is president and CEO emeritus of PBS12 in Denver (Colorado Public Television, KBDI).
While serving as dean, Wick taught the doctoral proseminar and other courses in communications history, policy and research methods. Over the years at CU and Illinois he taught and advised dozens of doctoral students and gave papers at countless national and international conferences. He is widely published in communication studies, with particular emphases on communications policy history, public media, television violence debates, international broadcasting, communication theory and the history of journalism and communication education.听
During his tenure at CU, Rowland led the transformation of a small, largely vocationally oriented journalism school into a much larger, nationally competitive collection of professional and academic programs across a wide range of media education and research emphases.听
He also served as president of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC) and for two terms on the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC), and he led accrediting and program review teams at many other universities.
Rowland had a parallel career in U.S. public media, serving as the first research director for PBS in Washington and later as its director of long-range planning. He served on public radio and television station advisory boards and then as chair of the board of PBS12, and after retiring from CU he became its CEO. He was an active advocate for public media nationally and in Colorado, serving as chair of the Colorado Broadcasters Association and several national public television associations. He lobbied regularly with the Colorado delegation in Congress and won several national and local media awards including the CBA鈥檚 Broadcast Citizen of the Year, Public Television's National Advocacy Award, and the Denver Post鈥檚 Television Person of the Year.听
He holds degrees from Stanford University (BA), the University of Pennsylvania (MA) and the University of Illinois (PhD). He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jamaica and also has been a Fulbright scholar in Ethiopia.
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