Dr. David M. Rubin, former dean of the Newhouse School at Syracuse University and host of WCNY’s “Ivory Tower Half-Hour,” spoke on the Impact of Media on Democracy at the Firebarn on Thursday, April 16, 2015.

To see a video recording of Dr. Rubin’s presentation, please check out Independent Media CNY’s page here.

About Dr. Rubin:

Dr. David M. Rubin holds a B.A. degree from Columbia University in American History and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Communication from Stanford. He served as Dean of the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University from 1990 to 2008. He is now a member of the full-time faculty at Newhouse, teaching more than 200 students each academic year. In 2013, he was voted “Teacher of the Year” by the graduating class. Prior to Syracuse, he was, for 19 years, a member of the faculty and chair of the Department of Journalism at New York University.

At Newhouse:

As Dean of the Newhouse School, Dr. Rubin established: an office of external relations that has developed a highly successful career center; an alumni relations operation that now actively involves more than 3,500 graduates; and a development program that has significantly increased annual fund giving to the School. Among the gifts he brought to the School were $15 million from the Newhouse Foundation to construct Newhouse-3; a $10 million Development Fund gift from the Newhouse Foundation to guarantee the future health of the School; $500,000 from Arthur Liu to establish the Liu Scholarships in multicultural communications at the graduate level; and $1.5 million from the Knight Foundation for a Knight Chair in Political Reporting. He also assisted Professor Robert Thompson in creating the Center for the Study of Popular Television with a gift from alumnus Ed Bleier.

Dr. Rubin also oversaw construction of a third building in the Newhouse complex at a cost of $32 million. The building provides a state-of-the-art experimental lab for new approaches to online news delivery. It also houses offices for student services, new classrooms, a dining center, a research center, and a new career center. Designed by the New York City firm Polshek Partners, the building has won a variety of awards and is best-known for having the entire First Amendment etched in its glass ribbon.

Beyond the Classroom:

In addition to teaching, Dr. Rubin served as a Pulitzer Prize judge in 1998 and 1999, judging “Explanatory Journalism” and “Public Service Journalism,” respectively.

Dr. Rubin is also the host and co-creator of “The Ivory Tower Half Hour,” a regular round-table discussion of public affairs that airs on WCNY-TV every Friday at 8 p.m. Ivory Tower has been on the air since September 2002 and is the highest rated public affairs show in central New York with a weekly audience of 10,000 viewers.

Dr. Rubin writes a monthly column for the Syracuse Post-Standard and the Syracuse Media Group. Most of his columns deal with local political and economic issues; the use of language in the media; and issues in higher education. Dr. Rubin also regularly reviews opera for the website CNYCafemomus.com, and serves on the boards of WCNY-TV and Syracuse Opera.

David Rubin is married to the former broadcast journalist Tina Press. They live in Fayetteville, NY with their two Shelties, Bobby and Ace, both of whom are masters-level agility competition dogs, no thanks to Dr. Rubin.