Veteran journalist and author Jim Newton is taking on an enhanced role as a member of the staff and faculty at UCLA.
Best known for his 25-year career at the Los Angeles Times, where he was a reporter, editor, bureau chief, editorial page editor and columnist, Newton will embark on a wide-ranging effort to deepen UCLA’s ties to the civic life of Los Angeles and the region.
Newton will assist with External Affairs’ public outreach programs, headed up by Elizabeth Boatright-Simon. Newton has appeared several times as a moderator or panelist for these programs in recent years.
He will also develop and launch a new quarterly university journal highlighting UCLA research in fields that are particularly relevant to Southern California. The journal will also highlight the region’s leading institutions and influential figures and serve as the centerpiece of a series of public events. It will be housed in the Luskin School of Public Affairs under the direction of Dean Frank Gilliam and jointly published with University Communications and Public Outreach.
At the same time, Newton will take on an increased teaching load in the Department of Communication Studies, where he has taught journalistic ethics since 2010. He will continue teaching that course and begin teaching a new course in writing starting next year. He is a UCLA Luskin Senior Fellow, a distinction he has held since 2008, mentoring and engaging graduate students in Los Angeles civic life.
In addition to his career as a journalist and academic, Newton is well-known for his biographies of California Governor and Chief Justice Earl Warren (“Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made,” Riverhead, 2006) and President Dwight Eisenhower (“Eisenhower: The White House Years,” Doubleday, 2011), a national best-seller. "Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace," a new book which he co-authored with former Secretary of Defense and CIA Chief Leon Panetta, was released this week.
