HU APPOINTS DIRECTOR, ENDOWED PROFESSOR OF JOURNALISM SCHOOL

Hampton, VA - Hampton, Va. – HU President William R. Harvey has named Christopher Campbell as director of the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications and Veteran Journalist Earl Caldwell as the Scripps Howard endowed professor of journalism.

“I'm very excited to be joining the Scripps Howard School,” Campbell said. “I believe we're well positioned to have a significant impact on the journalism and communication industries. There are already great things happening in the school, and I look forward to seeing it reach its enormous potential.”

Campbell most recently served as the Director of the School of Journalism and Mass Media at the University of Idaho. From 1987-2000 Campbell worked at Xavier University in New Orleans, where he served as communications department chair and as director of the mass communication program. He earned a Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of Southern Mississippi, an M.S. in mass communication from the University of Southern Illinois at Edwardsville and a B.A. in English from Webster University in St. Louis. Campbell is the author of "Race, Myth and the News" and a number of articles about media and culture. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and copy editor and as an assignment editor for a St. Louis TV station.

Caldwell was the lone reporter to witness the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. He is writer-in-residence at the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education in Oakland, Calif., where he is writing “The Caldwell Journals," a serialized account of the black journalist movement spawned by the 1960s civil rights movement. The enterprising journalist rose to fame while a reporter at The New York Times when he refused to disclose information to the FBI and the Nixon Administration involving his sources in the Black Panther party. The case, United States v. Caldwell, reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 when the court ruled against him. The "Caldwell Case" led to the enactment of shield laws in many states that allow reporters to protect sources and information. He is the executive producer of the popular radio program, "The Caldwell Chronicle," which airs weekly on WBAI in New York City.

For additional information, please contact: Yuri Rodgers at (757) 727-5253 or via email: yuri.milligan@hamptonu.edu.