To the University of Miami Community:
I am delighted to share that Karin Gwinn Wilkins, a leading scholar on global media who focuses on global communication and political engagement, as well as media and social change, has been named the new dean at the School of Communication, effective September 1, 2019.
Karin is currently associate dean for faculty advancement and strategic initiatives at the Moody College of Communication and professor of media studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and has held the John T. Jones Jr. Centennial Professorship in Communication at UT Austin since 2018. She also serves as editor-in-chief of Communication Theory. She previously held the John P. McGovern Regents Professorship in Health and Medical Science Communication, was director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and was chair of the Global Studies Bridging Disciplines Program from 2010 to 2015. Prior to her tenure at UT Austin, Karin was a lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Karin is an International Communication Association fellow; a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society; and a member of the advisory boards for the Arab-U.S. Association for Communication Educators, and Global Media and Communication. She also serves on the editorial boards for the Journal of Popular Communication, the International Journal of Media and Mass Communication, the Journal of Communication, and the International Communication Gazette, of which she is also associate editor.
As an accomplished scholar and an expert on the dynamic landscape of global media, Karin is the right leader to guide the School of Communication during these challenging and exciting times on how the world communicates.
Karin received both her master’s degree and Ph.D. in communication from the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School for Communication. She received her bachelor of arts in interdisciplinary studies from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, including a year’s study at the University of Edinburgh and a subsequent year with the American University in Cairo.
I would like to once again thank Dean Gregory J. Shepherd for his eight years of leadership and service to the School of Communication. Greg will remain with the University, working on special projects.
A special thank you also goes to the members of the search committee, led by Dean Leonidas Bachas, for their tireless effort and hard work in identifying and recommending the ideal candidate.
Please join me in welcoming Karin to the University of Miami. | 
