Thomas Kunkel has had a distinguished career in journalism, but by his own account, it has been mainly by accident.

As a reporter, editor, author and educator, Kunkel has received numerous honors. His latest will be bestowed Friday with the 2005 Journalism Administrator of the Year Award.

As a high school athlete who liked to write, Kunkel was talked into writing a sports column for his school newspaper. During his junior year, he attended a Saturday session held by a sports reporter at the local paper. Of the 20 students in the room, Kunkel was the only one asking questions. His interest paid off when the reporter called him later that week and offered him a job taking basketball box scores and writing short stories.

“I kind of came in through the side door by accident,” Kunkel said.

Over the years Kunkel worked for The Cincinnati Post, The Miami Herald, The New York Times and the San Jose Mercury News. Along the way, he became the youngest executive editor in Knight Ridder’s history, heading up the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer in Columbus, Ga. at the age of 29.

Kunkel never received an education in journalism himself.

“I decided that I should probably major in something that might be more useful, that might complement my journalism on-the-job training,” Kunkel said.

The University of Evansville also didn’t have a strong journalism program, he said, so he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1977.

As for the debate on whether aspiring journalists should get a journalism education, Kunkel sees both sides.

“I think that if you have the opportunity to go to a very good journalism school [and you know you want] to be a journalist then you will profit from that,” he said.

But Kunkel knows there are exceptions to the rule.

“I would never tell you, ‘Don’t go to Cornell’ because they don’t have a journalism program there.”

Students at Maryland said they understand why Kunkel is being honored with the top administrator award.

Laurie Au, a senior journalism major at Maryland this fall, said that Kunkel is very approachable and helpful.

“He has a southern charm,” she said. “He’ll really make time for the students.”

Alia Malik, a junior majoring in journalism at Maryland, said it feels great to know her dean received a top award. “It reinforces my conclusion that I definitely chose the right school to go to for journalism,” she said.

In 2000, Kunkel became dean of the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism. He is involved with the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, and next year will chair the ACEJMC’s national committee on accreditation.

Kunkel says he’s honored to receive the 2005 Administrator of the Year Award.

“This means an awful lot to me because I know the people who have got it over the years,” he said. “It is a very select bunch of quality people.”

Looking forward, Kunkel believes the industry and educators face the same issues, specifically figuring out where journalism is going. For the educators, though, he worries about the way journalism is being managed.

“I’m a little concerned that journalism education itself is being marginalized within the construct of the mass communication model at most universities,” he said.

Kunkel feels that universities often place journalism into schools with other disciplines like advertising or public relations.

“When journalism is just a little piece of these big schools,” Kunkel said, “its clout within those schools can be diminished.”

That being said, Kunkel finds journalism education encouraging.

“It’s very rewarding,” he said. “You can have a real impact and you can see real growth in people’s lives.”

As for his advice to those wanting to become journalists, including the incoming freshman at Maryland, he believes now more than ever is the time to become a journalist.

“This is the greatest time in history to go into journalism,” he said. That opinion may come off as overly optimistic to those who see journalism in a dark state. But Kunkel is “bullish on journalism” and believes what he says.

“The world is so complex and inner-related now that we need journalists more than ever to explain it,” he said.