Renee Hobbs to Lead New School of Communication at the University of Rhode Island

Renee Hobbs was named the inaugural director of the Harrington School of Communication and Media at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston. Her appointment is effective January 1.

The school was established in 2008 by a $5.5 million donation from Jean and Richard Harrington. He was president of CEO of Thomson/Reuters. The new school will include academic departments of journalism, film/media, communications, public relations, writing and rhetoric, as well as the graduate program in library and information science.

Hobbs is currently a professor of communications at Temple University in Philadelphia. She is co-editor of the Journal of Media Literacy Education. Her most recent book is Digital and Media Literacy: Connecting Culture and Classroom (Corwin Press, 2011).

Dr. Hobbs holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan. She earned a doctorate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.