Sam Fulwood III was appointed dean of the School of Communication at American University in Washington, D.C., effective May 15. He has been serving as a senior fellow and vice president of race and equity at the Center for American Progress.
Last year, he served as a faculty fellow at American University’s Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, where he co-directed the “Black Swing Voter Study,” a survey and focus-group report that predicted the important role that Black voters would play in key battleground states prior to the 2020 election.
“I am humbled by the opportunity to lead American University’s School of Communication, especially at this historically critical moment when truth-telling journalism and fact-driven communication are under assault, yet greatly needed in our society,” said Fulwood. “I hope to support and promote the outstanding work that students, faculty, and staff in our school and university are doing to protect and preserve democracy in our nation, as well as contribute all that I can to make an already prestigious school even more so.”
During his time as a journalist, Fulwood was the metro columnist at Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer and a national correspondent in the Washington, D.C., bureau of the Los Angeles Times. Earlier in his career, Fulwood held the positions of business editor and state political editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Fullwood, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the author of two books: Waking from the Dream: My Life in the Black Middle Class (Anchor, 1996) and Full of It: Strong Words and Fresh Thinking for Cleveland (Gray & Company, 2004).
