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een accustomed to leaving my “whereabouts” information in the CNN computersystem whenever I was out of pocket. Now, providing that information to theuniversity is considered unnecessary and a bit egocentric.Likewise, email and computer access to the university’s internet system is extremelylimited from off campus. The institution apparently considers it unnecessary to have itsemployees remain reachable and accessible to the internet for business purposes whentraveling, perhaps because few members of the faculty travel. Concretely, there are nodial-up procedures for accessing the university computer system from anywhere outsideabout a 20-mile radius of the campus. Although this is strictly a technical and financialissue, it also reflects a bit of the parochial nature of academe, which seems toconcentrate on its own community rather than on the larger world beyond. For aglobal journalist accustomed to processing worldwide information and maintainingalmost continuous worldwide contacts, this environment is a bit of a culture shock.Something I’d feared in my transition to academia has never materialized. I’d worriedabout my relationship to colleagues both in journalism and in education. I feared thatmy career outside education would leave me in a nether world on campus, not fullyrespected by my new colleagues. I’d worried that I’d feel somehow constantly “sub-par”on campus. It was a groundless fear. Most faculty and students appear to accept mybackground for what it is: a different set of accomplishments in a different world, notdirectly related to the academic world but also not measured against the standards ofthat world.Colleague AcceptanceAmong my colleagues in broadcast news, there are a few who seem to consider me tohave “bailed out” of or “given up” journalism. I don’t think they understand thecumulative stresses which led to my decision to move to the campus or the sense ofaccomplishment which allowed me to start down a fresh path. Or perhaps they haven’tfelt them in the same way. Or perhaps not yet. Most former colleagues, however,understood immediately and have been extremely supportive.In this connection, small changes have been remarkably satisfying. Gone is my twicedaily,white-knuckle Washington beltway commute. Gone is the intense competitionfor air time and the struggle to shoehorn international content onto a networkincreasingly limited to domestic and celebrity news. (This struggle, however, has beenreplaced by a kindred one: trying to shoehorn global content into a campusenvironment almost exclusively comprised of domestic material. I’ve taken that on assomething of a mission after 911, when I realized how little exposure most collegestudents have to information about the world beyond the United States.)And gone is the unpredictability of broadcast journalism, a feature which was adriving and inspiring force for me for decades, but which I now realize I’m glad to haveshed. It’s really nice to be able to buy theater tickets or make a dinner date… andactually attend.“Aren’t you bored?” a former colleague has asked (and many more are probablythinking). Not so far. Since arriving on campus, I’ve arranged for dozens of guestspeakers to visit Delaware, some from as far away as the Middle East and Afghanistan.I’ve taken students to Washington for visits to CNN, Reuters and the Newseum, andto New York for a tour of the New York Times. I’ve helped students gain internships inBEA—Educating tomorrow’s electronic media professionals 5