Jannette Dates

Jannette Dates is dean emerita of the School of Communications at Howard University, having served for nearly 19 years there as the dean. She is a nationally recognized authority on the issues of mass media and the depiction of African-Americans in popular culture.



Dates joined the department of radio, television and film, of Howard University in 1981, serving first as a faculty member, then associate dean, before assuming the post of dean of the School of Communications. Dates has written extensively on issues such as diversity in media industries and higher education, and is regularly interviewed as an expert on the subject of the depiction of African-Americans in the media. Dates co-edited the book, “Split Image: African Americans in the Mass Media,” and has also contributed to numerous other books and articles. Dates’ media experiences include appearances on “Both Sides with Jesse Jackson,” “Booknotes with Brian Lamb” on CSPAN, “ABC News with Peter Jennings,” “All Things Considered” on NPR, “Close Up” on NPR, “Our Visions” on BET, and “On the Media” on NPR, among others.



Prior to her career at Howard, Dates served as anchor and executive producer of a weekly television magazine for the Baltimore, MD, NBC affiliate, WBAL-TV, and as executive producer and host for a distance learning television series for Morgan State College students studying African-American history and culture. She served as a panelist on a weekly public affairs television series for the Baltimore, MD, ABC affiliate, WJZ-TV, in a weekly series entitled “Square Off,” and as the co-anchor of the weekly television series “North Star” for WBAL-TV

In 1992 Dates served as a fellow at the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center at Columbia University where her research focused on media images and their impact. From 1995 to 2002, she was a member of the national advisory board of the George Foster Peabody Awards. Dates served as president of the two largest associations of communication educators (the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and the Broadcast Education Association). She also served as vice president of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.