The John and Elizabeth Bates Cowles Chair in Journalism and Mass Communication
College of Liberal Arts interim dean Ann Waltner appointed Hubbard School director Elisia Cohen to the John and Elizabeth Bates Cowles Chair in Journalism and Mass Communication. The chair serves to marshal the related research interests and expertise of the faculty and recognizes that leadership and management in the media industry requires a leader of the journalism school who is committed to media management, including personnel administration, production and control technologies, operations, marketing and dissemination.
A nationally recognized expert in the field of health communication, Director Cohen has developed and evaluated a range of evidence-based programs to intervene to promote health, change health behavior, and prevent and manage disease. At the University of Minnesota, she has partnered with principal investigators in the Clinical and Translational Science Institute and Masonic Cancer Center to increase the reach and effectiveness of their work and is involved in the University’s data science initiative.
As Hubbard School director for the past seven years, Cohen has transformed both its physical imprint in Murphy Hall as well as its operations, managing 54 full-time instructional faculty and staff and multiple undergraduate, graduate and professional programs. Cohen has worked diligently to develop dozens of relationships between the school and Minnesota nonprofit and corporate media, advertising and public relations agencies, and Twin Cities businesses.
Before coming to the University of Minnesota, Director Cohen was the Gifford Blyton Endowed Professor and chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Kentucky in Lexington where she tackled financial issues, increased alumni engagement, and made diversity and student success priorities of her leadership.
“We are now at a critical juncture in the development of the field of journalism, and we are fortunate to have Professor Cohen at the helm of the Hubbard School,” said Interim Dean Waltner.
