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Hub Brown

Hub Brown

Dean and Professor

Office: 2096 Weimer

Phone: 352-392-0466

Email: hub.brown@ufl.edu

Hub Brown

Dean and Professor

For a full profile of Dean Brown visit: jou.ufl.edu/hub-brown

As dean of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (CJC) since July 1, 2021, Hub Brown has established himself as a leading higher-education journalism and communication program administrator.

Brown has had a significant impact on CJC since his arrival. Under his leadership, the College has funded eight new faculty positions, grown enrollment post-pandemic, and increased donor gifts by 35%, including an $8 million endowment to sustain a major journalism award, the largest gift in the College’s history.

Shortly after his arrival, Brown launched a strategic planning process to provide a roadmap for the College over the next three to four years. The outcome, CJC 2028, lays out goals, objectives and strategies to continue the College’s trajectory as one of the top programs in the country.

Some of the signature programs launched under his leadership include the Atlas Lab, a state-of-the-art, AI-driven digital media analysis lab, a rebranding and expansion of the College’s extensive sports journalism and media program, and elevating artificial intelligence research with the hiring of two faculty members focused on AI in the Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology.

His emphasis on providing students with opportunities outside of Gainesville resulted in the launching of CJCxNYC, a program offering student experiences in New York City, and a planned expansion of CJC’s footprint to Washington, D.C. The College also launched six new study abroad programs, including immersion opportunities in Munich, Frankfurt, Paris, UK and Cannes, France, for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Brown’s focus on employee development and recognition has led to a new infrastructure around recruitment and hiring, new onboarding and offboarding best practices, elevated employee engagement, new rewards and recognition programs, and expanded leadership development and training programs. Since his arrival, the College has had a 100% success rate in tenure and promotion.

Prior to joining CJC, Brown served as associate dean for research, creativity, international initiatives and diversity and as an associate professor of broadcast and digital journalism at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. As associate dean, he managed the college’s incentives to facilitate research and creative activity; aided department chairs, the School’s Diversity Committee, and individual faculty members in promoting diversity in curriculum, faculty hiring and student recruitment; and promoted international engagement among faculty and students, including student/faculty exchange, memoranda of understanding and promotion of the Newhouse School abroad.

Brown has been active nationally with issues central to effective journalism and mass communications education. He is the vice president of the Association of Schools in Journalism and Mass Communication and will become president-elect in October 2024, served as head of the Electronic News Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and is a former member of the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, where he has taken part in numerous accreditation site visits at ACEJMC programs across the country.  He co-led an effort in 2023 to conceptualize how college journalism programs nationwide can collaborate to provide news to local communities, particularly those communities without a professional news media presence.

Brown is a member of the Hearst Journalism Awards Steering Committee, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Broadcast Education Association.

At the University of Florida, he is the leadership chair for the UF Campaign for Charities Planning Committee and will serve as general chair for the 2024-2025 Campaign. He also serves on UF’s Streamlining Academic Management Steering Committee.

Prior to joining academia, Brown had more than 15 years’ experience in reporting, producing and anchoring for commercial local television news and in public television. His experience ranges from political and state government reporting to producing public affairs documentaries.

Areas of Expertise

Ethics/Professional Responsibility, First Amendment, Multicultural/Race Communication and Issues, Reporting

Education

Bachelor’s degree, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Master’s degree, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

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