Bruce Drushel named MJF department chair

Bruce Drushel will replace Richard Campbell as Miami University's Media Journalism and Film (MJF) department chair in August at the start of the 2018-2019 school year.

Drushel was selected after the MJF department search committee shared their reports on the various candidates to Chris Makaroff, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and University Provost Phyllis Callahan.

Students had the opportunity to contribute their comments along with the search committee's notes in the reports.

Makaroff said he and Callahan only asked to have the candidates' acceptability, strengths and weaknesses outlined for them to review.

"The chair search is not a popularity contest," Makaroff said.

Ultimately, Makaroff and Callahan chose Drushel from the pool of applicants, which included a few external candidates.

"Dr. Drushel was found [to be] acceptable by an overwhelming number of people in the department and, based on the input provided to me by the committee, was determined to be the best person to take on the leadership of the department at this time," Makaroff said.

Drushel's teaching interests include media economics, audience behavior, media law and policy, popular culture representations of LGBTQ persons and media history.

A number of colleagues urged Drushel to apply for the position, which he said is not something he would typically seek on his own.

"I currently have the best job in the world, so the prospect is daunting," Drushel said. "But I'll give it my best shot."

Drushel has a number of goals for the MJF department. He plans to look at how the programs in the department are arranged and reconsider their configurations, institute aggressive recruitment tactics and develop a summer program for incoming students, as well as re-evaluate the relevance of the courses offered by the department.

Makaroff explained that Drushel's success will be measured by a number of factors, such as his ability to attract and retain high quality faculty, staff and students to the department, to provide the appropriate courses to meet the needs of students and to use the university's resources efficiently and effectively.

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Drushel said his success is inextricable from that of the department as a whole.

"Really, any results we see will be measures of the department, not the individual," Drushel said. "There's not always hard-core metrics you can turn to. But I have a drive to give back after 31 years of teaching, and I'm excited about the ideas I can bring to the classroom."

Drushel will assume the role of MJF department chair on Aug. 20, 2018.

brunnsj@miamioh.edu

@samantha_brunn