James Simon is a journalism professor. He has served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences]at Fairfield University and the New York Institute of Technology. He is widely published in such areas as environmental journalism and the value of college co-curricular activities like student participation in college media.
Academia career
Simon began his teaching career as an adjunct professor in the communication department at Rutgers University. After receiving his doctorate, he became an assistant professor in the Communication Department at the University of the Pacific in 1994. He moved to Fairfield University in 1997, starting the journalism program in the English Department, and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2001. He was promoted to full professor in spring 2006 and was later elected to serve as of the university's largest department for five years. Simon was named associate dean of the Fairfield College of Arts and Sciences in July 1, 2012 and became for a one-year term ending July 2015. He was named at the in Fall 2015 and served in for two academic years. Simon received the National 2003 Teacher of the Year award by the Small Program Interest Group of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. He was a recipient of a national fellowship in the Institute for Journalism Excellence awarded by The American Society of Newspaper Executives. Simon is co-author of . He is the author of published in such as Political Communication, Public Understanding of Science, and , and he serves on the editorial board of journals like The Newspaper Research Journal.
Professional career
Simon covered statehouse politics during his 10-year journalism career with the Associated Press. He covered New Jersey State House politics, while serving as New Jersey State News Editor from 1974 to 1978; Rhode Island State House politics from 1979 to 1981; and Massachusetts State House politics from 1981 to 1987. He also served as the Massachusetts State House AP bureau chief from 1983 to 1987. Following his political journalism career, Simon was appointed by Governor Michael Dukakis to serve as the Assistant Secretary of the Environment for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1987. During the 1988 United States presidential election, he served on the environmental issues committee for Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis. From 1989 to 1990, he served as the director of public relations for the Massachusetts Hospital Association.
