![\"Portrait](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lucy-greenberg.jpg\")
<\/p>\n For Glenn Cummins, the recent honor merely punctuates a long road of growth and success
\n in the College of Media & Communication.<\/p>\n
\t\tCREATORS<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Glenn Cummins has a 10-minute commute to Texas Tech University<\/a>. It\u2019s a straight drive down Indiana Avenue to his office, allowing him time to listen Cummins earned his bachelor\u2019s degree in radio, television and film from the University \u201cI didn\u2019t even know you could study media like radio or TV,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI was planning His pocket transistor radio and the debut of \u201cStar Wars: Episode IV\u201d had captivated Twenty years later, Cummins\u2019 tenure at Texas Tech University was recently accentuated \u201cEverything I\u2019ve gotten to experience in my career because of Texas Tech would have The Bigger Picture\u00a0<\/p>\n Cummins has evolved and grown along with Texas Tech. As he\u2019s celebrated the university\u2019s After two degrees, Cummins took a job as a producer at a broadcast news ABC affiliate. \u201cEveryone was zeroed in on making the 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. news,\u201d Cummins remembers. Two years in, Cummins was invited to a workshop in Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a transformation moment,\u201d he says. \u201cWe were discussing audience research Cummins had always been fascinated by the psychological process that informs what After finishing his doctoral degree and cutting his teeth as an assistant professor \u201cI immediately recognized a kindred spirit between Texas Tech and myself,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cummins had never been to Lubbock, but one of his friends had taken a faculty job \u201cGlenn is quick-witted and always looking to laugh, but he doesn\u2019t shy away from serious Knowing he was looking for more research opportunities, Callison encouraged Cummins, \u201cHe\u2019s always struck me as the smartest person in the room. That\u2019s been a bit aggravating Possibilities & Potential\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI like that Texas Tech remains ambitious,\u201d Cummins says.\u00a0<\/p>\n In his time here, he has grown from an assistant professor into a tenured full professor, \u201cI\u2019ve been rounded out as a scholar, I don\u2019t feel like a one-trick pony,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n From teaching Introduction to Creative Media Industries \u2013 his favorite class \u2013 to He got busier when the college\u2019s former dean recognized Cummins\u2019 capacity for leadership This flattered Cummins but also alerted him to a potential gap in his professional He began looking back at his training as an academic and noted there was a lack of \u201cWhen you earn a doctorate degree, you\u2019re trained very specifically in a niche area He\u2019s had access to opportunities at Texas Tech that aim to fill this need for faculty, His shift into leadership positions has forced Cummins to recalibrate.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I began my career, it was all about the classes I led, the papers I published, Last year, Dean Bey-Ling Sha suggested Cummins apply for the Scripps Howard Leadership \u201cI felt Dr. Cummins merited selection not only for his prior leadership experience Dean Sha worked closely with Cummins as he served as interim chair of journalism and \u201cHe is a wise and generous source of institutional knowledge,\u201d Sha adds. \u201cHe is always These were all sentiments Sha made known in the recommendation letter she sent to In June, Cummins and 13 others gathered at Syracuse University for a week. Each day Cummins says the first day started with a panel of guest deans from across the country, \u201cWe also covered incredibly practical items like departmental budgeting and how best The days were carefully curated to explore topics that academic leaders need to have \u201cIt gave me the skeleton of a puzzle that I can now add the pieces to,\u201d he says. \u201cI During his time at the academy, as with many experiences he\u2019s had through Texas Tech, \u201cFor a little kid from rural Mississippi, the Scripps Howard Leadership Academy may He says the university\u2019s slogan of \u201cFrom Here, It\u2019s Possible\u2122\u201d feels personal for \u201cIt\u2019s what motivates me when I\u2019m working with students,\u201d he says. \u201cI want them to
\n to highlights of the marketplace morning report on NPR. If it\u2019s a short report, he\u2019ll
\n switch over to local radio \u2013 a remnant of his early career.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n of Southern Mississippi in 1997.<\/p>\n
\n to become an accountant.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n his attention as a child, but he assumed they\u2019d become bygone hobbies. He never thought
\n of his own media consumption as something that could be studied.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n with a competitive selection to the Scripps Howard Leadership Academy. The professor
\n and associate dean in the College of Media & Communication<\/a> has built a successful career by teaching and researching journalism<\/a> and creative media industries<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n been a mere pipedream to me as a kid,\u201d Cummins says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n growth, it\u2019s been impossible to separate his own. But his career didn\u2019t start here.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n This had been the goal since starting college. A barrage of writers, editors, anchors
\n and producers filled the station\u2019s newsroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAnd I was too for a while.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n and when I went back to work, I couldn\u2019t stop asking these big-picture questions that
\n no one else wanted to talk about \u2013 not unless it somehow fit into the 10 o\u2019clock news.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n media someone chooses to listen to or watch. And in 2002, the dot-com boom and advent
\n of social media was changing everything he thought he knew. Media was ceasing to be
\n a one-way street. He decided to leave his broadcast news job and take a chance on
\n a job in academia. He didn\u2019t want to merely produce and consume media; he wanted to
\n understand it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n for two years at another institution, Cummins began looking for a university with
\n more ambitious research goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n at Texas Tech.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n conversations,\u201d says Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies Coy Callison<\/a>. \u201cHe is a standout educator because he is equally fantastic as both a teacher and
\n a researcher.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n who he had met when they both were graduate students at the University of Alabama,
\n to apply for an open position at Texas Tech. He had no doubt his friend would be the
\n perfect fit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n both then and now,\u201d Callison says, laughing. \u201cEven back in graduate school, he would
\n say something in response to a question, and I would think, \u2018I wish I had thought
\n of that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\n and in 2010, he took on his first administrative role as an assistant department chair.
\n From there, he\u2019s served in various capacities, most recently being appointed the associate
\n dean for faculty and academic affairs within the college.<\/p>\n
\n advising graduate research projects and publishing hundreds of articles, papers and
\n chapters, Cummins has never been bored.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n and management.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n formal training when it came to leading people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n of study,\u201d he explains. \u201cThose individuals are experts in their field, but that doesn\u2019t
\n automatically mean they\u2019re experts in leadership.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n such as the President\u2019s Leadership Institute<\/a> or the resources offered through the Office of Research & Innovation<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n the students I taught,\u201d he says. \u201cBut now, my success is measured by the success of
\n others.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n Academy. The highly competitive program offers immersive training for leaders in journalism
\n and mass communications higher education.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n at Texas Tech, but also for his leadership potential in continuing to serve faculty,
\n staff and students,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n creative media industries, and now, in his new position as associate dean.<\/p>\n
\n seeking to develop as a leader, and he possesses genuine humility, which is what makes
\n learning possible for any individual, when you\u2019re OK with acknowledging that you still
\n have stuff to learn.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n the Scripps Howard selection committee, which notified Cummins in April that he\u2019d
\n been accepted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n easily went for 12 hours, sometimes longer, with participants trying to squeeze all
\n they could out of the limited days together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n including Sha, who shared their own leadership journeys and personal reflections about
\n leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n to engage with external stakeholders,\u201d he recalls.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n in their toolkit.<\/p>\n
\n learned a lot of the real day-to-day lived experiences of what it\u2019s like to be a senior
\n academic leader.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n Cummins tries to pause for a moment and reflect.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Cummins-Glenn-.jpg\")
Glenn Cummins<\/p>\n
\n as well have been Mars,\u201d he says in disbelief.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n him.<\/p>\n
\n realize they can pursue whatever they want to pursue, because that\u2019s been my story.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Glenn Cummins, the recent honor merely punctuates a long road of growth and success in the College…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-405743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}