Carleton’s j-school gets a new director

Chris Waddell, who has been the associate director of Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication for the last three years, is set to take over as interim director in July.

He replaces Karim H. Karim, who has been the director for the past three years.

Karim is stepping down, with two years left on his term as director, to take a position in London, England. He will be the co-director at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, an academic institution in the Aga Khan Development Network.

In a note to staff and faculty he said the new position will allow him to advance his longstanding work on enhancing understanding between Muslim and Western societies. In addition, Karim will be participating in establishing the Aga Khan University’s School of Journalism and Media in East Africa.

In addition to being the new interim director of the school, Waddell holds the Carty Chair in business and financial journalism. He joined Carleton in July, 2001 after 10 years at CBC Television News, including several years as the network’s parliamentary bureau chief in Ottawa, as well as executive producer of news specials for CBC television. Before that he was at The Globe and Mail where he served in a number of positions, including Ottawa bureau chief during the 1988 federal election and later as national editor of the newspaper

Professor Waddell received a Ph. D in Canadian history from York University in Toronto in 1981.