Dear colleagues,  

I am pleased to announce that Regina Lawrence has accepted a one-year appointment as interim dean of the School of Journalism and Communication.  

Regina currently serves as Associate Dean of SOJC Portland and research director of the Agora Journalism Center. She is a nationally recognized authority on political communication, local news, gender and politics, and the role of media in public discourse. 

She was selected after a series of meetings with the SOJC community, including faculty, staff, and leadership, to learn about the leadership characteristics of the person the school wanted to see appointed. I want to thank the entire School of Journalism and Communication for their active and thoughtful engagement in the process that led to this decision. 

Recognizing the need for a strong presence in Eugene, Regina committed to relocating her office to Eugene for this critical period of transition and is committed to building community across the School on both the Eugene and Portland campus. During her interview process, she demonstrated a commitment to a set of core values that include active listening, inclusion, collaboration, transparency, and accountability, and I am confident that she will strive to ground her work in these values every day. 

Since joining SOJC in 2015, Regina has served as a member of the executive leadership team, director of the Agora Journalism Center, and as co-chair of the SOJC Graduate Affairs Committee. She’s also been an active member of the UO Portland campus, including chairing the campus-wide Academic Collaborative.  

Among other accomplishments, she has worked with SOJC leadership, faculty, and staff to grow the Portland-based professional master’s programs, the Agora Journalism Center, the Oregon Reality Lab, and the new SOJC Portland multimedia production studio.  Her research focuses on press-state relations; journalistic norms, routines and innovations; local news and information ecosystems; and the role of the media, gender, and social identity in political communication. She has edited and authored several notable books on the media, including, When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media from Iraq to Katrina. 

Her research has appeared in numerous journals, and she currently serves as editor of the journal Political Communication.   

From 2011 to 2015, Regina directed the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at the University of Texas-Austin. Regina received her bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Metropolitan State College in Denver, her master’s in political science from the University of Colorado at Denver, and her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Washington. A national search will begin in the fall with the intent of naming a permanent dean by July 1, 2026. 

Please join me in thanking Regina for taking on this important responsibility.  

Sincerely, 

Christopher P. Long 
Provost and Sr. Vice President