Earlier this year, Stephen M. Jones, dean of the BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications, appointed Ed Adams as chair of the Department of Communications at Brigham Young University.
Adams replaces Brad Rawlins who accepted a position as dean of the College of Mass Communications at Arkansas State University.
“I have worked closely with Brad for the past 10 years, both in the chair’s and dean’s office,” said Adams. “His deep sense of purpose and his commitment to strengthening the foundation of department will be missed.”
Adams’ responsibilities as department chair won’t be new. This will mark his second appointment to that post, having previously worked as department chair in the Department of Communications from 2003 to 2008. Adams then served as associate dean from 2008 to 2011.
“Ed is a remarkable leader whose has a proven ability to guide the department,” said Jones. “His work in the past, continued by Brad Rawlins, has helped develop programs with national reputations and opened doors for students that have provided them with some of the finest learning in the discipline. We are grateful to both Ed and Brad, and see the future as bright.”
More than half of the 23 current faculty members in the department were hired during Adams’ tenure as department chair. During that time the department’s labs were strengthened to play a central role student’s education. Adams oversaw the founding of the AdLab, worked to incorporate the Daily News Show into KBYU’s programming, and transitioned the Rulon Bradley Agency from a student agency to a fully-integrated public relations agency.
Prior to his arrival at BYU, Adams taught at universities in Texas and Ohio. His industry experience includes managing a magazine publishing company in Phoenix, Ariz.
In 1998, Adams was named the most-outstanding journalism and mass communications professor under the age of 40 by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. In 1999, he was included in the first edition of Who’s Who in the Media and Communications.
For more information, contact Ed Adams at (801) 422-1221, ed_adams@byu.edu, or visit communications.byu.edu.
Writer: Joseph Sowa
