Keynote Speech: Public Interest Communication: What Is It? How Do You Do It? Why Should You?

Description

Join us to learn about how public interest communications can offer a rich research path, fulfilling career opportunities for students, and a way to address society’s large-scale problems.

Speaker

Hubert “Hub” Brown, Dean and Professor, College of Journalism & Communications, University of Florida

As dean of the University of Florida College of Journalism & Communications since 2021, Brown has established himself as a leading higher-education journalism and communication program administrator.

Some of the signature programs launched under his leadership include the Atlas Lab, a state-of-the-art, AI-driven digital media analysis lab, a rebranding and expansion of the college’s extensive sports journalism and media program, and elevating artificial intelligence research with the hiring of two faculty members focused on AI in the Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology.

Brown has been active nationally with issues central to effective journalism and mass communications education. He is the vice president of the Association of Schools in Journalism and Mass Communication and will become president-elect in October 2024, he served as head of the Electronic News Division of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication, and is a former member of the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication, where he has taken part in numerous accreditation site visits at ACEJMC programs across the country.

He co-led an effort in 2023 to conceptualize how college journalism programs nationwide can collaborate to provide news to local communities, particularly those communities without a professional news media presence.

Brown is a member of the Hearst Journalism Awards Steering Committee, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Broadcast Education Association.

Prior to joining academia, Brown had more than 15 years of experience in reporting, producing, and anchoring for commercial local television news and in public television. His experience ranges from political and state government reporting to producing public affairs documentaries. Brown is a native of Omaha, Nebraska, and has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Read Brown's full bio