Columbia Journalism School Dean Nicholas Lemann Steps Down

Nicholas Lemann will continue as a member of the Columbia faculty and will write for the New Yorker

Nicholas Lemann will step down from his perch as dean of Columbia University's Journalism School at the end of the school year. 

Lemann will remain on the school's faculty and will continue to work as a staff writer at The New Yorker, the university said. When he leaves, Lemann will have been in charge of the journalism program, one of the country's most prestigious, for 10 years.

During Lemann’s time as dean, the school expanded its faculty, renovated facilities to include a new student center, and raised $167 million, including an $18 million gift from former Cosmopolitan Editor-in-Chief Helen Gurley Brown, the largest gift in the school’s history. The growth came at a time of widespread layoffs at newspapers and magazines.

Lemann also helped shake up the school's curriculum to include more digital offerings. He started new centers for investigative reporting and online journalism, and did away with an old structure that had students choose to concentrate on newspapers, broadcast, magazines or digital courses of study.

The search for Lemann's replacement will be led by Columbia University President Lee Bollinger.

"I am proud to have completed a decade-long term as dean of the Journalism School, and excited about the prospect of a great new dean's leading the school to new heights during the term to come,” Lemann said in a statement. “President Lee Bollinger and my colleagues at the Journalism School have put extraordinary trust in me, and that has made it possible for me to have the happiest season of my career here in the dean's office. Together we have accomplished a lot, for the school and for our profession."

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