PHILADELPHIA – Renee Hobbs, of Temple University, is coming to the University of Rhode Island in January to be the founding director of the Harrington School of Communications and Media.
She is currently a professor of communications and founder of the media lab at Temple. According to that university’s website, she is considered one of the leading authorities on media literacy education in the country as a researcher, teacher, advocate and media professional.
The Harrington School, established last year at URI, brings together the departments and programs of the journalism, film and media, communication studies, public relations, writing and rhetoric and a graduate program in library and information science. The school was created in part by a gift from Dick Harrington, former CEO of Thomson/Reuters.
Hobbs told Providence Business News she is “excited about this opportunity” in large part because of the Harrington School’s all-encompassing mission incorporating various media formats, making it “a 21st century school for digital media and literacy,” she said.
Harrington’s “phenomenal” gift, she said, is especially significant because it provides the university with an opportunity to achieve distinction in the educational arena “not just regionally, but at the national level.”
Hobbs holds a doctorate degree in human development from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, a master’s degree in communication from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree with a double major in English literature and film video studies, also from the Michigan university.
The University of Rhode Island did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Providence Business News.
