Business Beat: Justin Wyatt named permanent director URI Harrington School of Communication and Media

Wyatt will lead University’s communications and journalism school full time

Justin Wyatt, who served as interim director of the University of Rhode Island’s Harrington School of Communication and Media during the 2025-26 academic year, has been appointed the school’s permanent director.

Wyatt was unanimously selected by the Harrington School’s department chairs to lead the school, which is part of URI’s College of Arts and Sciences. In the role, he will oversee one of URI’s signature academic programs, serving approximately 1,600 undergraduate and graduate students pursuing careers in journalism, public relations, broadcast media, social media, communications and related fields.

“I see the Harrington School being the intersection of academia and industry,” Wyatt said.

Wyatt joined URI in 2015 after working in market research and audience analysis for several major media organizations, including NBCUniversal, Viacom and the ABC Television Network. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of British Columbia, and both his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in film, television and digital media from the University of California Los Angeles.

At URI, Wyatt has held several positions, including assistant professor, associate professor and chair of the Department of Communication Studies. He is currently serving as interim associate dean for undergraduate studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

“My goal is to have the school be a vital place for students, faculty and staff, in bringing communications and media work to the community at-large beyond URI,” Wyatt said.

Brenton DeBoef, interim dean of the URI College of Arts and Sciences, said Wyatt has already helped provide direction for the Harrington School during his time as interim director.

“Justin Wyatt has provided the Harrington School with a clear direction, both academically and on the research front,” DeBoef said. “The school is a jewel within the College of Arts and Sciences. We seek to raise the level of research scholarship and the excellent work happening at the school, and Justin is the perfect leader to take the Harrington School to that next level.”

During Wyatt’s interim tenure, the Harrington School launched its Community News Lab, a program that partners advanced URI journalism students with local publications to help cover Rhode Island communities with limited or no local news coverage.

The school also hosted a two-day symposium in April that brought together higher education scholars from across the country, including URI faculty, to address challenges in crisis communication for contemporary media.

Wyatt and DeBoef said they would like to see the Harrington School expand its public events and symposiums, building on existing programs such as the annual Christiane Amanpour Lecture and the Taricani Visiting Journalist Series on First Amendment Rights.

Wyatt said additional events would help connect the broader community with issues in communications and media, while also creating more experiential learning opportunities for URI students.

Among Wyatt’s priorities as permanent director are developing skills workshops for incoming students, highlighting research by Harrington School faculty, and creating a visiting executive program. That program would bring leaders in fields such as marketing, publicity, technology and finance to campus to serve as role models and help students better understand possible career paths.

Wyatt also wants to expand workplace visits and tours of media organizations in Providence, Boston and New York.

This past academic year, the school organized a two-day trip to New York led by Sports Media Program Director Molly Yanity. Students and faculty visited the offices of Women’s Health magazine and Major League Baseball, giving students a closer look at career opportunities in communications and media.

“The students like the idea of trying to build a bridge from our school to the professional world, and this is one of many bridges that we should be building,” Wyatt said. “I see these visits as a way for students to appreciate the many different careers they might pursue.”