Mark Zoromski, a broadcast journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee for 20-years, has accepted a position as director of student media at Marquette University it was announced Friday.
And the UW system budget crisis was cited as a factor in the move. Zoromski, a Milwaukee television news veteran was news director at WITI-TV (Channel 6) from 1983 to 1986.
In his new position he will be advisor to the student operated Marquette Tribune, Marquette University Radio, the school’s quarterly magazine and journals.
Zoromski was advising producer of UWM’s PantherVision, which he helped create.
The student run newscast in collaboration with Milwaukee Area Technical College, won a Murrow Award in 2014, beating out commercial broadcast networks and stations.
Last week PantherVision earned three Milwaukee Press Club Awards in the collegiate division, including best news staff.
PantherVision featured students from Zoromski’s reporting and TV news management class with technical assistance from MATC’s TV and video program.
“My guess is it’s done after 18-years,” Zoromski said of PantherVision in an interview.
He said a hiring freeze at the UWM campus casts doubt on whether he will be replaced.
“And if they ever do replace me they’ll have a hard time finding someone willing to devote 80 hours a week to put the (PantherVision) newscast on the air.”
While the decision to leave UWM had “many facets,” Zoromski said “I’d be lying if the budget situation” at the school. had nothing to do with it.”
Schools in the UW system are dealing with a $250 million budget shortfall.
According to the Wisconsin State Journal UWM is among schools that “have been unable to grow their programs in high demand fields such as engineering, business and nursing.”
Zoromski, 57, was a full-time senior broadcast journalism lecturer in the department of Journalism, Advertising and Media Studies, or JAM.
He said that he did not think the school was no longer in a position “to do the kind of stuff I do. I’ve got ten cameras, four or five of them are broken and there’s no money to fix them.”
He also said his workload has increased because of staffing shortages.
“But that’s not the issue,” he said. The question is “how can we offer a rigorous program to students when we lose faculty and can’t replace them?”
Zoromski said he regretted leaving UWM and students who signed up for his classes next semester.
But “I’m really excited about the new opportunity” at Marquette “and I think I will have an impact there immediately to help grow student media and make it better.”
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