Assistant Professor of Mass Communication Megan Fromm will not be returning to
Colorado Mesa University for the 2018-2019 academic school year. Fromm explained in an email she has “accepted a job to teach high school journalism and work with student media just down the road at Grand Junction High School.”

Fromm has taught at CMU since 2015 and has been the advisor of the student-run Horizon Magazine. “I have truly enjoyed getting to know each one of you, and I will miss you all as well as CMU dearly,” Fromm said in her email. “Life is short, and sometimes it’s fun to try new things and take different paths, so if I can leave you with any kind of advice, it would be to do just that!”

In an Instagram post by Fromm on June 25, Fromm stated that she’s “thrilled, scared, sad and excited all at the same time to be leaving higher education and going back to high school journalism this fall.”

“I will miss my CMU students and magazine staffers so much, but I know this is exactly where I’m meant to be,” Fromm said.

“There was an opportunity, and she decided to take it,” Instructor of Mass Communication Assistant Professor Elaine Venter said. “She’s passionate about teaching, about her students, and I can’t imagine it was an easy choice in the end.”

Fromm posted on Instagram again this morning, announcing that she has “officially checked out of CMU.” In this post, she explains that she’s received comments about her departure, some of which “weren’t nice and were generally along the lines of ‘you’re wasting your PhD to teach high school.’”

Fromm continued to say, “What I love, though, is how the people who know me best, and those who I consider the best educators and minds in the world, didn’t even bat an eye because they know how much teaching means to me.”

“Grand Junction High School is very lucky to have her inspire future generations,” Venter said. “I look forward to meeting those who come join us at CMU.”

Editor’s note:

Fromm’s email was a communication to students she had advised; not a direct correspondence with The Criterion. The Criterion did not conduct a formal interview with Fromm.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Hey Crite, I love you all so much! It’s true that sometimes people don’t understand why someone would want to teach high school when that person could teach college. But, I consider it a privilege to open the door for a conversation to help them understand. Usually once that conversation happens, they get it.

    And you know, any attempt at contacting me for this story probably would have been met with a resounding “sure!” Not sure why you went for emails and Instagram over a real interview.

  2. (Sorry if this posts twice—didn’t look like it went through the first time).

    Hey Crite, I love you all so much! It’s true that sometimes people don’t understand why someone would want to teach high school when that person could teach college. But, I consider it a privilege to open the door for a conversation to help them understand. Usually once that conversation happens, they get it.

    And you know, any attempt at contacting me for this story probably would have been met with a resounding “sure!” Not sure why you went for emails and Instagram over a real interview

  3. I’m perplexed as to why the subject of this story wasn’t interviewed. Is that not taught in the mass communications program any longer? You just rely on social media posts and an email?

  4. Thank you for clarifying this story. If anyone would like to be in touch for an interview, I’d be happy to facilitate that. Keep fighting the good fight of student journalism, Criterion! It’s so important, and I believe in you.

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