Ceppos may be new journalism dean in Nevada

By Liz O'Brien

Jerry Ceppos, a media ethics fellow at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, visited the University of Nevada, Reno, campus last week to interview for the position of dean of the Reynolds School of Journalism at UNR. He is one of two candidates up for the position.

Ceppos, whose position as a fellow at the Markkula Center became official last March, has worked with the center for the last few years. His position at the Markkula Center involves writing and speaking about media ethics. Ceppos has published articles about media ethics in the San Jose Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Most of his work has centered on developing an ethics code for online newspapers with the American Society of Newspaper Editors, who will meet at the Markkula Center sometime next year.

Ceppos also defends high school and college papers in legal trouble as a board member of the Student Law Press Center and serves on the board of the California First Amendment Coalition.

Should Ceppos receive the position, he will move from his home in Saratoga to Reno, Nev.

Though Ceppos said he has not yet discussed with the university what that might mean in relation to his position at the Markkula Center, Kirk Hanson, executive director of the Markkula Center, said that even if Ceppos does relocate to Reno, he still has the opportunity to continue his fellowship. Hanson said that he hopes that Ceppos will continue to work with the university until the project involving ethics for online newspapers is seen through.

"We have two or three fellows that are in L.A., or elsewhere," Hanson said, explaining that the ethics fellows generally visit the campus periodically and communicate mostly through e-mail and phone correspondence.

The center has a total of four official fellows in the areas of politics, business and peace studies, in addition to Ceppos' fellowship in media ethics. "Because it's a part-time position, we hope that he could continue to work with us, and us with him."

As he is only a candidate, Ceppos said he is not yet sure how a position as dean in another state will affect his fellowship in the Markkula Center, but that collaboration between the Santa Clara and UNR is something he may look into.

"I'm not sure," he said, "but media ethics is such an important part of journalism education that I might ask the Markkula Center if they'd be interested in doing some joint projects."

As former vice president for news of Knight Ridder and former executive editor of the San Jose Mercury News, Ceppos has an extensive history in journalism. But the position at UNR would be his first dedicated to journalism education.

"I've seen the end product that journalism graduates produce, and now I kind of want to be a part of that process," he said.

Ceppos began the process of applying and interviewing in October. Finalists were required to submit a philosophy vision statement for the journalism school, and then visit the campus for interviews, according to Tim McFarling, director of Faculty Human Resources at UNR.

Ceppos interviewed on UNR's campus on Nov. 4, where he met the president of the university. He also met with faculty members, administration and students. He was impressed with the campus, he said, and sees potential in the university's journalism program.

"They seem to me poised to really take off and become one of the great journalism schools," he said of UNR, citing its location near Lake Tahoe as a good base for environmental journalism studies.

Ceppos has completed the application process, and is now awaiting a decision from UNR. It will be at least a month before a final decision is reached, McFarling said.

In addition to Ceppos, Tom Hodson, director of Scripps school of journalism at Ohio University, is also a finalist.

"We're hoping by the first part of December we'll have a decision," said McFarling.

Contact Liz O'Brien at (408) 554-4546 or eobrien@scu.edu.