Tisdale named associate director of Schieffer School

Journalism professor John Tisdale has been named associate director of the Schieffer School of Journalism. Tisdale, who has been at TCU since 2002 and served as the school's interim director in 2008-09, began his new role in June. Tisdale also teaches media writing and media history classes.

“TCU and the Schieffer School are very fortunate to have John Tisdale ready and willing to take on a permanent position in the leadership of our school," said John Lumpkin, director of the Schieffer School.

Tisdale has also led the search committees that resulted in the appointments of Dr. David Whillock as dean of the College of Communications and Lumpkin as director of the Schieffer School.

"My role is to help our new director and the rest of our faculty achieve the goal of providing our students with an education that prepares them for the 21st century," said Tisdale. "I believe that we have a window of opportunity to make the Schieffer School competitive with the most prestigious journalism programs in the country."

Prior to joining TCU, Tisdale taught journalism at Lamar University and Baylor University. He worked as a reporter or copy editor at the Beaumont Enterprise, Columbus (Miss.) Commercial-Dispatch, Orange Leader, Temple Telegram, and the Waco Tribune-Herald.

Tisdale earned a master's and doctorate in American history while advising the student newspaper at Baylor. He has recently published articles in The Oral History Review, the Journal of Mississippi History, and the Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record. His research area focuses on Southern journalism in the civil rights era of the 1950s.