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Newhouse School Dean Lorraine Branham dies of cancer

Colin Davy | Staff Photographer

Branham joined the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications as dean in 2008.

By Casey Darnell, Gabe Stern, Jordan Muller, Kennedy RoseThe Daily Orange

UPDATED: April 3, 2019 at 1:43 p.m.

Lorraine Branham, dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, died Tuesday following a battle with cancer.

Friends and colleagues of Branham said they remember her innovation as a leader, her sense of fun and her no-nonsense attitude.

“She was someone who was like steel on the inside and cotton candy on the outside,” said Johanna Keller, a professor in the magazine, news and digital journalism department.

Branham stood out as a candidate for dean in 2008. The search committee interviewed about a dozen candidates when Branham visited Newhouse, Keller said.



She said the search committee felt like Branham was starting to lead them even during the interview. As soon as Branham left the room, Keller told the search committee they had found Newhouse’s next dean.

“She was already giving us a sense of her leadership and of her strength,” Keller said.

Branham pushed Newhouse into the 21st century and adapted the school to the changing field of journalism, Keller said. She also worked to increase the diversity of the school’s faculty, staff and students.

Branham oversaw the expansion of Newhouse’s communications programs since 2008, including the creation of the Newhouse Studio and Innovation Center, the Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship, the Newhouse Sports Media Center and the W20 Group Center for Social Commerce.

She also helped create The NewsHouse, a student-run news site, and led an $18 million fundraising campaign to renovate the Newhouse 2 building.

David Rubin, who preceded Branham as dean, said she became a powerful voice on campus and a champion of Newhouse.

“She was decisive. She wasn’t afraid to make tough decisions. She wasn’t afraid to think big,” Rubin said.

Rubin said many administrators tend to move from school to school, but not Branham — “Lorraine was a lifer,” he said. Branham was committed to Newhouse and might have served another 10 years if her health was good, he said.

John Nicholson, a professor emeritus of broadcast and digital journalism, worked with Branham to create the Newhouse Sports Media Center in 2013.

Nicholson said Branham appreciated the worth of sports journalism and always supported his efforts to improve Newhouse’s sports programs. He and Branham became friends through their work on the Newhouse Sports Media Center.

“She had one of the world’s greatest laughs,” Nicholson said. “She could be tough as nails. She could be angry sometimes, but when you got her laughing, the whole room would laugh.”

A vigil will be held in her honor at 3 p.m. in front of Hendricks Chapel on Wednesday, acting dean of Newhouse Amy Falkner said.

Falkner, senior associate dean of Newhouse, was Branham’s right-hand woman. They spoke every day, whether it was a work day or not.

She said one of her fondest memories of Branham was when she cut the ribbon of Newhouse’s Studio and Innovation Center alongside media legend Oprah Winfrey. The energy of the sunny September 2014 afternoon stuck with Falkner. People filled the sidewalks and packed the carless Waverly Avenue to see Winfrey.

“That happened because of Lorraine,” Falkner said. “None of that would have happened without her.”

Falkner said she admired Branham’s ability to strategically fundraise and lead a communications school with the heart of a journalist. Branham understood the current climate of journalism, and she pushed for innovative courses and plans to be ready for the future, Falkner said.

“Journalism is not in trouble, and that’s because visionary leaders like Lorraine Branham have been seeing to it that it doesn’t happen,” Falkner said.

Before coming to Newhouse as dean, Branham was a newspaper journalist who worked at The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Baltimore Sun. Branham was the director of the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin when she was hired to lead Newhouse.

Garry Howard, director of corporate initiatives at American City Business Journals, met Branham when he started working as a sports copy editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1987. Branham, a senior editor, immediately took him under her wing, he said. Howard said he hadn’t been coached by a woman, as there weren’t many women working in sports media.

“Lorraine Branham just transcended gender,” Howard said. “She was tougher than nails.”

Howard said he saw her nearly every year at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention, where she would introduce him to students that she felt were “coming up.”

“I don’t think I would be where I am today or I would have enjoyed such a, what I’d call a pretty damn good career, without the help and the guidance of Lorraine Branham,” Howard said.

Branham’s legacy also extends to the student body.

Jamaya Powell, a 2018 graduate of Newhouse, said Branham helped her get the financial aid she needed when she had no money to return to SU and complete her degree. Branham was an advocate for students, and was like a motherly figure, Powell said.

“For me, being a young black woman who went to Newhouse, I thought it was very important to have a black female dean because she looked like me and she advocated for people like me,” Powell said.

DeArbea Walker, now of The Philadelphia Inquirer, remembered the times she sat in Branham’s office when she was a student.

Branham acted as a mentor to Walker — she told Walker to “be herself” when applying to Newhouse. She met Walker’s mother the following April at “Accepted Students Day.” Walker came to her when she had problems with classes or finding internships because she knew that Branham would never sugarcoat a situation. That wasn’t her style, and Walker admired that.

Branham was the main reason that Walker applied to Syracuse. She was the only person Walker found that was a black woman in charge of a communications school, and SU quickly became Walker’s top choice. She saw a mentor in Branham, like many students in Newhouse.


When Walker had trouble in classes, she would email Branham asking to meet. When she graduated, the two kept in touch. Last year, Branham called Walker on a Sunday because of a typo in her resume. When Walker started at The Philadelphia Inquirer, Branham critiqued her first stories.

“She was somebody who cared and was invested in all of the students that were at Newhouse,” Walker said. “We felt that, in some ways, Dean Branham can fix our problems. And she wasn’t that type of person, but she cared enough to tell you what to do and what to fix in situations.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, the magazine, news and digital journalism department name was misstated. Also, the year Dean Branham was considered a frontrunner for dean was misstated. The Daily Orange regrets this error. 





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