WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Wichita State University has hired a media historian to lead the Elliott School of Communication.
The university announced Friday that Matthew Cecil will begin work as the school’s director on June 30. Cecil is currently an associate professor at South Dakota State University’s department of journalism and mass communication.
Cecil will succeed Lou Heldman, who has served as the school’s interim director since 2011. The new director will oversee 30 faculty and staff members and courses for more than 2,000 students at the university’s communications school.
The university said Cecil is the author of a forthcoming book, “J. Edgar Hoover and the American Press: Journalism, Public Relations and the Legitimation of the FBI.” He is also working on a new book about the work of journalist George Seldes.