Dr. Michelle Ferrier will return to her alma mater’s state as the next dean of the School of Journalism & Graphic Communication at Florida A&M University (FAMU).
Ferrier, an associate professor of Journalism and former associate dean for Innovation, Research/Creative Activity and Graduate Studies at Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communication, will start her position Oct. 1. She was recruited by FAMU for her 30 years of experience in media and her award-winning work in writing and digital production.
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Ferrier, who has outstanding credentials and an impressive track record of creating and utilizing cutting-edge strategies in the media industry,” FAMU Interim Provost Rodner Wright said in a university press release.
She was named one of the top 20 journalism innovation educators for 2018.
In April 2016, Ferrier filed a complaint against OU claiming that she had been discriminated against as a dean because of her race and sex. She filed a lawsuit against the university after she was stripped of deanship, according to a previous Post report.
The lawsuit was dropped in January, according to a previous Post report. The initial complaint stated that she was the only African-American in an administrative leadership position at the college at the time.
FAMU is among the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities and its Journalism school is the first accredited program of its kind, according to the FAMU press release.
“I am delighted to be joining FAMU in this role," Ferrier said in the FAMU press release. "We are immersed in a digital culture that has transformed journalism and graphic communications in deep ways. My mission is to grow our graduates to be leaders and innovators in this new landscape that create inclusive and representative media.”
Ferrier earned her doctoral degree in Texts and Technologies from the University of Central Florida, where she developed online communities, online learning and new media storytelling technologies. She obtained a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Memphis and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park, according to the FAMU press release.
