Philip Merrill College of Journalism Dean Thomas Kunkel has been named the seventh president of St. Norbert College, a highly respected liberal arts school located in De Pere, Wisc., the school announced today. He succeeds William J. Hynes, who led St. Norbert for eight years. The appointment is effective on July 1.

“Tom Kunkel’s leadership has had a profound impact on the College of Journalism. The accomplishment and momentum that he leaves behind will continue for years to come,” said University President C. D. Mote, Jr. “While we are sorry to see Tom go, it is satisfying to see him use his talent and energy at another level at St. Norbert College. We wish Tom all the best when he takes over the reins this fall.”

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The following is the letter Dean Kunkel sent on the news of his appointment as president of St. Norbert College:

To our faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends,

I am writing to tell you about an important development in my life and career, one that I convey to you with a mixture of excitement and melancholy.

It is being announced today that I will be the next president of St. Norbert College, an outstanding, Catholic liberal arts institution in De Pere, Wisconsin, just outside Green Bay. With about 2,000 undergraduate students, St. Norbert is consistently ranked one of the best liberal arts colleges in the Midwest, and it recently was elevated to a top national school by U.S. News and World Report. St. Norbert was founded in 1898 by the Norbertine order of Catholic priests, and Norbertines continue to oversee the college and teach on the faculty.

I will begin at St. Norbert in July.

Of course, that means that my time at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism will conclude after my eighth year as dean. It has been an eventful and I think altogether positive time, one in which we built on the solid foundation of our predecessors and made this journalism school into one of the best in the nation. In May we break ground on beautiful Knight Hall, which will allow us to march confidently into the media’s brave new digital world.

I will have more to say in the coming weeks and months about all that. For now, let me just add that this opportunity sought me out, rather than vice versa, and after much contemplation I decided that the chance to direct such a respected liberal arts university was simply too rare to pass up.

But it will mean giving up the best job I’ve ever had, surrounded by the best people I’ve ever worked with, a school with faculty and students who are the envy of all my peers.

Provost Farvardin will soon announce his intentions in regard to a search for my replacement.

Deb and I will never forget this opportunity or your friendship.

Tom

Joe Widoff, a 25-year veteran of the public broadcasting industry, has joined the staff as general manager of UMTV, the television station operated by the Merrill College.

Read the full release here.

The Philip Merrill College of Journalism sends deepest condolences to the family and friends of sophomore Letters and Sciences major Nicole Schiffman, who was killed in Arizona Saturday.

“Everyone at the Merrill College of Journalism is shaken and terribly saddened by this tragedy,” said Dean Thomas Kunkel from New York. “Our prayers and condolences go out to Nicole’s family and to her friends, many of them students in our program.”

Scripps Doctoral Fellow and a visiting professor Rafael Lorente had Schiffman in his Journalism 201 class:

“Nicole was a joy to have in class,” Lorente said. “Her insight and enthusiasm, as well as her warm smile, will be missed by all of us. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family.”

For complete coverage of this tragedy, see The Diamondback.