News

New president announced for St. Norbert College

DE PERE -- Journalist and scholar Thomas Kunkel has been named the seventh president of St. Norbert College, effective July 1, 2008.

Kunkel will succeed William J. Hynes, who has led the college for the past eight years.

Kunkel was introduced to the college and local community on Tuesday, March 4, at Old St. Joseph Church on the St. Norbert College campus.

"St. Norbert College is widely regarded as one of the top liberal arts institutions in America, and my wife, Deb, and I are thrilled and humbled by this opportunity," said Kunkel. "I am a product of both a liberal arts and Catholic education, and here is a place where those missions come together to create a uniquely rich environment."

A writer and editor, Kunkel is currently in his eighth year as dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, where he is also president of American Journalism Review, a national magazine published by the college.

At Maryland he has served as director of the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, and as editor and director of the Project on the State of the American Newspaper.

Kunkel has spent much of his early career in newspaper management. Most recently he was deputy managing editor of the San Jose Mercury News. Prior to that he worked for The Miami Herald, The New York Times and The Cincinnati Post, and he was editor and publisher of Arizona Trend magazine.

When he was named executive editor of Knight-Ridder's Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer, he became the youngest top editor in company history at age 29.

He has written or edited five books including "Genius in Disguise," the critically praised biography of New Yorker editor Harold Ross. The volume was a New York Times Notable Book of 1995.

	Related article: from October 1, 2004 issue: • Review of Enormous Prayers ... book

"Enormous Prayers: A Journey into Priesthood," an ethnographic portrait of 28 Catholic priests, appeared in 1998. "Letters from the Editor," a compilation and analysis of Ross letters, was published in 2000.

Kunkel worked with legendary editor (and Maryland journalism professor) Gene Roberts on the Project on the State of the American Newspaper, a two-year, in-depth examination of the newspaper industry. In this 18-part series, Kunkel edited some of the best nonfiction writers in America, including seven Pulitzer Prize winners. He is co-editor of two books examining the newspaper industry.

Kunkel was born and raised in Evansville, Ind. He earned his bachelor's degree in political science at the University of Evansville in 1977 and his master's degree in humanities from the same school in 1979. He and his wife of 32 years, Debra Kunkel, have four daughters.