UNC Professor James Keaten will retire at the of the end of the semester. Keaten has been an educator for 32 years at the University of Northern Colorado and has been department chair of the Communication and Journalism and Media studies department for three years. Keaten’s title will change from Associate Professor to Emeritus Professor. Among his plans is writing a score for an upcoming documentary, as he has proclivity to music.
Keaten also spoke about his fascination towards religion. He had a post-doctoral fellowship in Harvard on comparative religions, which he said was inspired by the country’s response to 9/11.
“It was a very divisive time for our nation, and I was fascinated by how religion was a big factor in that particular time,” Keaten said.
Keaten also talked about his tenure as the department chair of the Communications and Journalism department.
“I was lucky to have worked with incredible people in this department,” he said.
He also discussed the hardships of leadership.
“It’s very tough to say no when you have people with great ideas but limited resources,” Keaten said.
All in all, Keaten is excited for this new journey and spending more time with his family as well as, “no more paperwork.”
Keaten hopes to leave a legacy not of buildings or anything with his name on it, but one that inspires students to become better people, better communicators and better leaders.
