Celebrating Jeff Springston

Jeff Springston has worn many hats throughout his years at Grady College, but perhaps his most indelible legacy will be his contributions to the Grady College graduate program. And, his gift of song.

Springston will celebrate his retirement March 30, 2025, after nearly 27 years teaching at Grady College and a total of nearly 40 years in higher education.

“Jeff Springston has served this college as a faculty member and an associate dean, but equally importantly, he stepped up, time and again, when we needed leadership,” said Charles N. Davis, dean of Grady College. “His work reorganizing the college in 2013 is the stuff of legend, and so much of what we’ve been able to accomplish is thanks to Jeff.”

Springston joined the Grady College faculty in 1998, after teaching at Indiana University, the University of South Alabama and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. While at Grady College, he taught numerous public relations undergraduate and graduate courses, including PR Campaigns, PR Management and Risk Communication, just to name a few. In 2006, he was named associate dean for research and graduate studies, a job where he not only oversaw all the graduate students, but developed the College’s expanding graduate programs, including the Emerging Media master’s program which launched in 2016, the MFA Narrative Media Writing which launched in 2015 and the MFA in Film, Television and Digital Media, which launched in 2020.

Springston worked closely with Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and Jean Martin-Williams, an associate dean at Franklin, to create the MFA Film program.

“As associate deans in our respective colleges, Jeff and I facilitated the creation of the MFA in Film, Television and Digital Media,” Martin-Williams said. “This multi-year project was unchartered territory in many ways: not only a joint degree between two colleges, but one that involved numerous stakeholders and contributors on the state level.  Jeff was terrific in his management of all the pieces, even with unexpected changes. I thoroughly enjoyed working with him. I will miss his calm manner and dry wit.”

Numerous multi-million-dollar research grants have been awarded to Springston during his career, as well, many of them focused on increasing cancer screening awareness and promotion. His work in health, risk communications and emerging technologies is published in a variety of leading journals and scholarly publications, including the Journal of Applied Communication Research, Cancer Detection and Prevention, Journal of the Health and Human Services Administration, Handbook of Health Communication and the Handbook of Public Relations, among others.

“AdPR lost another extraordinary colleague to retirement,” said Juan Meng, a UGA Athletic Association Endowed Professor and head of the Department of Advertising and Public Relations. “Through his 26 years of service, Dr. Springston has made a significant impact not only on the AdPR program but also the graduate studies and research, and MFA programs. We are grateful for his contributions. His wisdom and guidance will be greatly missed.”  

Springston is a past chair of the Public Relations Division of the National Communication Association. He was accredited by the Public Relations Society of America in 1995.

Throughout his time at Grady College, Springston has always shared his love of music at faculty and staff gatherings. A guitar was frequently spotted in his office, propped up in the corner ready to be played. He would regularly sing for Friday night jam sessions, retirement celebrations or as Grady mourned the loss of a faculty member.

Author: Sarah Freeman, freemans@uga. edu