Former Newsman Named First Park Chair Onetime ABC News bureau chief Christopher Harper joins the College after three years at NYU The Roy H. Park School of Communications has announced the appointment of veteran journalist Christopher Harper as the first Park Distinguished Chair in Communications. A former producer and bureau chief for ABC News, Harper has taught for the past three years in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at New York University. "We are delighted to have a journalist and educator with such an outstanding reputation as Christopher Harper join our faculty," said Thomas W. Bohn, dean of the Park School. "In addition to his classroom teaching, he will work closely with students in our cocurricular efforts in television, radio, and print journalism, and with the faculty in developing special workshops and seminars in journalism education." Harper has extensive broadcast and print journalism credentials. From 1986 to 1995 he was a producer for the ABC News program 20/20, where he was responsible for investigative pieces on topics ranging from Middle East terrorism and military readiness to airline and prescription drug safety. He was previously an ABC News bureau chief (1983-86) and correspondent (1981-83) in Rome, and bureau chief in Beirut (1980-81), covering such stories as the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, the hijacking of the Achille Lauro and TWA Flight 847, and the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. He began his overseas work as Beirut bureau chief for Newsweek magazine (1979-80), for which he had previously served as a correspondent in Washington and Chicago. He started his journalism career as a Chicago reporter for the Associated Press. An expert on the subject of on-line journalism, Harper is the author of And That's the Way It Will Be: News Media in the Digital Age and editor of Mass Communications in the New Millennium, both scheduled for publication this fall. He has written about the role of computers and the World Wide Web for the American Journalism Review and has made media appearances as an expert on the "Unabomber." The Park Distinguished Chair in Communications is funded by a $10 million grant from the Park Foundation in honor of Ithaca College President Emeritus James J. Whalen. In addition to the endowed chair, the grant funds undergraduate scholarships, a distinguished visitors series, and capital equipment acquisitions in the school. Harper joined the faculty of New York University in 1994 as an associate professor of journalism, serving as director of graduate studies in 1995-96. He held a Freedom Forum teaching fellowship at Indiana University in 1996 and has lectured at Columbia University and Case Western Reserve University law school. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor's degree in English literature and journalism from the University of Nebraska, and earned a master's in journalism from Northwestern University. His memberships include the Association of Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Society of Professional Journalists, and American Journalism Historians Association. In 1995 Harper was named journalist of the year by Kappa Tau Alpha, the academic society for journalism. That same year he won a Teddy Award for environmental reporting at 20/20. His work has been nominated for Emmy, Overseas Press Club, National Headliner, and National Magazine Awards.