The University of Michigan has launched a search for a new director of Wallace House, home of the Knight-Wallace Fellowship program for journalists and Livingston Award for Young Journalists.

Charles Eisendrath, director of those programs for more than three decades, has announced his retirement effective July 1, 2016.

A search advisory committee, appointed by Vice Provost James Holloway, is charged with conducting a broad search and presenting an unranked slate of recommended candidates to succeed Eisendrath.

Thomas Zurbuchen, professor of climate and space sciences and engineering, and a member of the Knight-Wallace Fellowship board, will co-chair the search with Ken Auletta, writer, journalist and media critic for The New Yorker magazine.

“Charles Eisendrath has made a wonderful contribution to the University of Michigan and to the field of journalism through his stewardship of the Knight-Wallace Fellowship program,” said Provost Martha Pollack. “Our mission is to educate and to positively impact the world through our work as a university, the Knight-Wallace Fellows program serves this mission very directly.”

Since its founding in 1973 the Knight-Wallace fellowship has provided a rare opportunity for mid-career journalists to spend a year at U-M to study, reflect and to grow. Centered in Wallace House in a residential area of Ann Arbor, the program developed by Eisendrath has come to include extensive opportunities for mentorship with both U-M faculty and with practicing journalists, and for international news tours to explore journalism and events in other nations.

Knight-Wallace fellows spend their year on Michigan’s campus taking classes and delving into any academic areas of interest to them, while also interacting with a host of thought leaders from campus, as well as many notable figures in journalism from around the world who visit Wallace House each year.

Wallace House is named for journalist Mike Wallace and his wife, Mary, whose generous donation to the program provided it with both the house and, along with an endowment from the Knight Foundation, the program’s name.

Holloway said Eisendrath has had “tremendous formative influence on the Knight-Wallace fellows program and created the Livingston Awards to recognize excellence in young journalists.

“Having these journalism fellows on our campus has really enriched the environment, and Charles’ mentorship of them during their time with us has clearly been formative to their futures. The Knight-Wallace fellows program is one of only three similar programs in the U.S., and the only one at a public university.”

Additional members of the search advisory committee include:

• Anne Curzan, Arthur F. Thurnau professor, professor of English language and literature, professor of linguistics, and associate dean for humanities in LSA; and professor of education, School of Education.

• Carl Simon, professor of mathematics, professor of complex systems, LSA; and professor of public policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

• Bill Foreman, associate director for international communications at Michigan News and an alumnus of the Knight-Wallace Fellowship program.

• Dondi Cupp, associate vice president for development.

• Clarence Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist with the Chicago Tribune.

• Tracy Jan, Boston Globe national political and health policy reporter based in Washington, D.C., and a former Knight-Wallace fellow.

Send nominations or inquiries by email to wallacehousesearch2015@umich.edu.

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• Knight-Wallace Fellowship