News
Dean Sree named Columbia's first Chief Digital Officer; Sotomayor new dean
July 12, 2012 00:00
Sree Sreenivasan, Columbia Journalism School Professor and Dean of Student Affairs, has been appointed the first Chief Digital Officer of Columbia University, Provost John Coatsworth and Journalism School Dean Nicholas Lemann announced yesterday. In that role he will oversee the university’s efforts to determine and execute its online education strategy, and will be a resource on digital and social media.
Sree (@sree) has been at the Journalism School since he arrived as a student in 1992. In recent years, he inaugurated an important new job at the school, Dean of Student Affairs, in which he oversaw the administrative and physical integration of all functions directly related to students. As a well-known technology expert, he helped establish the school’s international reputation for leadership in digital journalism, and also taught in the program. He is the social media blogger for CNET, has been a technology reporter for New York’s local television news broadcasts, and has written for The New York Times, Poynter, BusinessWeek, Rolling Stone, National Journal, Bloomberg News, Forbes and Popular Science, among other publications. He is also co-founder of the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA), which is based at the J-School. He has been named “one of 25 media people to follow on Twitter” by AdAge, and one of the nation’s 20 most influential South Asians by Newsweek. In his new role at Columbia, Sree will remain a member of the Journalism School faculty.
“If now is the time for digital education to start having the impact that it’s going to have, Sree will be one of the people setting its agenda at Columbia,” wrote Arik Hesseldahl ’97 in AllThingsD of the appointment.
Ernest Sotomayor (@ersotomayor) is the Journalism School’s new Dean of Student Affairs. Since coming to the J-School seven years ago, Sotomayor built the school’s strong career services office, which has set records for percentage of students employed in journalism at graduation. During the past academic year, Sotomayor launched the school’s professional development and Continuing Education program under the direction of Arlene Morgan, Associate Dean of Prizes and Programs. Before coming to the Journalism School, Sotomayor had a long and distinguished career in newspaper journalism, most recently at Newsday. He has also been one of the country’s leading figures in promoting diversity in journalism, via his longtime activities in the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and in UNITY, of which he is a past president. In June 2011, he was inducted into the NAHJ Hall of Fame for his efforts to assist the organization in making journalism more racially and ethnically diverse.