Sarah Bartlett, dean of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, announced she will be leaving her post at the end of the academic year in June 2022.
The CUNY journalism school broke the news about Bartlett’s impending departure on its website Monday afternoon, and Bartlett subsequently shared the news in a mass email to students, staff, and alumni. In the email, Bartlett states that she believes the school is ready to “start a new chapter” and for a new dean to “bring fresh perspective and vision” in light of changes in the industry and society at large.
On a personal note, Bartlett added, she looks forward to spending more time with friends, family and non-work-related interests.
“Of course, I had hoped to share this news at a moment when the pandemic was in full retreat,” Bartlett continues in the email which was delivered five days after the start of classes. “I have confidence, however, that by next summer, we will all be in a better place.”
Bartlett plans on using her remaining time as dean to raise extra funds for Newmark to ensure her successor has a “solid financial runway.”
“Dean Bartlett has helped build the school of journalism at CUNY into a beacon for the future of the field,” CUNY Félix V. Matos Rodríguez said in a statement. “She has spurred the development of programs to train new generations of journalists and help them leverage evolving business models, technologies, and platforms. She has expanded the J-School’s efforts to make the industry more inclusive and those who work in the field more diverse.”
It is still unclear when the search for Bartlett’s replacement will begin but details on a national search for her successor will be released “in the coming months,” according to Bartlett’s email.
Bartlett joined CUNY in 2002 as the Bloomberg Chair of Business Journalism at Baruch College after working as a reporter and editor at publications like The New York Times, Fortune Magazine, and Business week and serving as editor-in-chief of Oxygen Median. In 2006, she became one of the journalism school’s founding professors.
During her two decades at the journalism school, Bartlett created the urban, business, and economic reporting tracks and co-founded the j-school’s Center for Community Media, which works to give resources and training to local news outlets covering communities of color and immigrant groups underrepresented in mainstream media, according to a statement from the journalism school.
During her time as dean, Bartlett helped launch the school’s first bilingual, for Spanish and English speakers, master’s track, an online entrepreneurial certificate program, and the school’s master of arts in engagement journalism program.
“Careful readers of our school’s strategic plan will not be surprised by this announcement. In 2018, I very deliberately inserted this sentence: “During the five years of this strategic plan (2018-2022), there is also likely to be a change in the J-School’s leadership, with a new dean appointed by the university,” Bartlett ends the email.
“I have always prided myself on meeting my deadlines, and I see no reason to break that habit now.”
