It looks like Duke is losing one to the Ivies.
Alex Jones, Duke's Eugene C. Patterson professor of the practice of journalism, will be the next director of Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard announced last week.
"I would not have left [Duke] had I not thought this was a job I really couldn't pass on," said Jones, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and co-author of The Trust.
Jones will assume the post this summer, although he will not arrive at Harvard until September.
Susan Tifft, who shares the endowed chair with Jones, her husband, said she will remain at Duke when he heads to Boston. Currently, the two commute to Durham from their home in New York.
"I went to Duke and I have a very strong and long-standing relationship with the University," said Tifft, adding that she is waiting for administrators to finalize her taking over the full Patterson chair-ship. Tifft will teach Jones' current courses.
Jones said the connection between the Shorenstein Center and the Sanford Institute for Public Policy will provide both schools with an exciting link.
The Shorenstein Center, part of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, is designed to analyze the media's role in politics and public policy.
"Alex Jones brings a breadth of knowledge and prestige among his peers that will further enhance the Shorenstein Center's reputation for excellence," Kennedy School Dean Joseph Nye said in a statement.
Jones said that having a journalist head the Shorenstein Center would assist the school's mission to explain both how and why the media affect politics and policy.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.