Skip to main content
Merrill College

Merrill College Expands Role of Dr. Linda Steiner to Associate Dean for DEI and Faculty Affairs

COLLEGE PARK — The University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism has expanded the role of Associate Dean Linda Steiner to lead and extend the college’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, Dean Rafael Lorente announced Monday.

Steiner, a longtime professor at Merrill College who this semester was named a UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, joined college leadership in Fall 2023 to help onboard new faculty, manage faculty mentoring, and improve faculty and staff development.

She now becomes associate dean for faculty affairs and diversity, equity and inclusion. Steiner will lead and manage the college's work toward cultivating and supporting the community.

"A robust, actionable commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion is crucial to faculty development, to effective student learning at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and of course to the credibility and trustworthiness of U.S. journalism," Steiner said.

Steiner is the former director of the UMD ADVANCE program, an Office of Faculty Affairs initiative to support the recruitment, retention, advancement and professional growth of a diverse faculty.

“When it comes to issues of equity, Linda Steiner has deep professional, research and teaching experience,” Lorente said. “We are fortunate to have her on our faculty to lead these efforts. We hope these expanded efforts will keep Merrill College an open and welcoming place for all.”

Now in her second term as editor of "Journalism & Communication Monographs," Steiner has published nine co-authored or co-edited books, most recently, "Front Pages, Front Lines: Media and the Fight for Women's Suffrage." She is a leading expert on women and the media.

Her research interests include media ethics, feminist theorizing and the conceptions/roles of women in the media workforce, especially journalism. Steiner is a past president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and a fellow of the International Communication Association. She worked for a small newspaper in upstate New York before going to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she earned her Ph.D. Steiner is an affiliate professor in UMD’s Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. 

For more information, contact:
Josh Land
joshland@umd.edu
301-405-1321

Back to Top