Kalb Honored With Media Chair

One month before he leaves Cambridge to head up the new Washington, D.C. division of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Marvin Kalb has been honored with an endowed chair just created in his honor--a professorship of global communications at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG).

Kalb, who became the Shorenstein Center's first director 12 years ago, has also served as chief diplomatic correspondent for both CBS and NBC News and has been credited with trailblazing the field of press, politics and public policy.

The new endowed chair marks a record fourth for the KSG this year. Richard J. Parker, a Shorenstein Center fellow, said he believes the establishment of a chair in the name of a living professor at any given school is "unusual."

However, KSG Academic Dean Frederick Schauer said it is appropriate to honor Kalb now because schools often recognize departing faculty members with named professorships for especially important work in their fields. Schauer emphasized, however, that Kalb is not retiring from academia, but only from teaching. He will remain Murrow professor of press, politics and public policy.

With Kalb's departure imminent, Schauer described the chair as "a wonderful way not only to honor what he has done here, but [to continue] his work in an important way."

Kalb's departure will change the school, Schauer said.

"He is here, he is a presence--in that he is irreplaceable. However, he has created something [the Center] and therefore, in another way, he is replaceable, although it may be difficult to find someone with the array of Marvin's talents," he said.

Parker noted that "Marvin's really widely admired, especially by the donor [former Iranian Finance Minister and Houston oil tycoon Hushang Ansary], as the one who's built the department essentially from scratch when he arrived."

Schauer said Kalb was "instrumental in forcing us to recognize the international dimensions of communication."

According to Parker, another endowed chair"essentially means more firepower to work with theschool, students and audience to understand howthe press does more than simply to carry back thenews."

The search for candidates to fill the positionwill begin this fall, according to Schauer, whosaid officials are beginning the process with nopreconceptions about a candidate's ideologicalviews or personal characteristics.

"In global communications, we are thinking andlooking for a world-class, Harvard-class scholarand teacher who focuses in particular on theincreasingly important internationalcommunications and mass media--whether it beelectronic or other forms," Schauer said.

The professorship is funded by a gift from theAnsary Foundation, a philanthropic organizationestablished by Ansary, one of the ShorensteinCenter's advisory board members.

In addition to the professorship, the KSG ishonoring Kalb with the renaming of a seminar roomand the foundation of a fund to support futureShorenstein Center projects

According to Parker, another endowed chair"essentially means more firepower to work with theschool, students and audience to understand howthe press does more than simply to carry back thenews."

The search for candidates to fill the positionwill begin this fall, according to Schauer, whosaid officials are beginning the process with nopreconceptions about a candidate's ideologicalviews or personal characteristics.

"In global communications, we are thinking andlooking for a world-class, Harvard-class scholarand teacher who focuses in particular on theincreasingly important internationalcommunications and mass media--whether it beelectronic or other forms," Schauer said.

The professorship is funded by a gift from theAnsary Foundation, a philanthropic organizationestablished by Ansary, one of the ShorensteinCenter's advisory board members.

In addition to the professorship, the KSG ishonoring Kalb with the renaming of a seminar roomand the foundation of a fund to support futureShorenstein Center projects