The Berkeley Beacon

Issue date: 9/22/05 Section: News

Media Credit: Public Affairs

Four communications and entertainment professionals, including the co-creators of both MTV and "Will & Grace," were recently named to the Emerson College Board of Trustees.

Jonathan Miller of AOL Inc., Tom Freston of Viacom International Inc., Terry Semel of Yahoo! and Max Mutchnick of NBC will be officially welcomed to the board at its first meeting in October. Freston, Semel and Miller were all named to the board in May, and Mutchnick last week.

"These gentlemen are acknowledged industry leaders who will bring valuable expertise, insight and connections to our board," Board of Trustees Chair Ted Cutler said about the appointees in a press release.

According to Vice President of Public Affairs David Rosen, President Jacqueline Liebergott selected the new board members in May. They were then elected by the Committee on Trusteeship, which is a small group of trustees responsible for approving the selections. With the new members, the Board of Trustees is now comprised of 24 individuals. The board is allowed to contain up to 40 members, Rosen said.

Rosen said trustees' responsibilities include handling the college's major operating policies, as well as promotion and tenure of faculty.

The new members have decades of experience in various types of media entertainment and news.

Freston helped found MTV in the 1980s and served as chairman and chief officer of the network before he became co-president of Viacom in 2004.

Freston's son, Andrew, is a junior marketing communication major at Emerson.

Mutchnick, a 1987 Emerson graduate, is the co-creator and executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning NBC sitcom "Will & Grace."

"Max Mutchnick is a genuine trailblazer in the entertainment industry," Liebergott said in a recent statement. "As a professional and devoted alumnus, he represents the very best of Emerson College and we are delighted he has agreed to serve on our board."

Semel worked for Warner Bros. for 24 years before being named the CEO and chair of Yahoo! in 2001. His contributions to Emerson include a monetary gift in 2003 used to build the Semel Theater, which is part of the Tufte Performance and Production Center. Semel's daughter, Courtenay, is an Emerson alumnus.

Miller, a friend of Semel and Freston, and native of Brookline, has been chair and CEO of AOL Inc. since 2002.

"It is truly an honor and a privilege to join Emerson College's Board of Trustees," Miller said in a statement released by his spokeswoman, Trisha Primrose. "As the media and entertainment landscape change, Emerson's role of inspiring talented, sophisticated, highly-skilled communicators and artists is more critical than ever. I do know that this rapidly shifting media landscape will require professionals with the creativity, passion, honesty, courage and diversity that Emerson has for more than 120 years produced."

Rosen said he believes the new trustees will use their experience to help the college.

"They bring a lot of knowledge of what goes on in the industry," he said. "And they can bring that knowledge of the changing industry into the curriculum."

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