TIME WARNER ENDOWED CHAIR

Current

Cathy Hughes
Time Warner Endowed Chair. A highly regarded media executive, Hughes has the distinction of being the first woman in the history of radio to own a #1 ranked major market station. She is founder and chairperson of Radio One, Inc., the largest African-American owned and operated broadcast-company in the nation. Radio One is the first African-American company in radio history to dominate several major markets simultaneously. In 1995, Radio One purchased WKYS in Washington, DC for $40 million -- the largest transaction between two Black companies in broadcasting history.

Past

Suzanne de Passe
Chairman and CEO of de Passe Entertainment. Served as the Department's Time Warner Endowed Chair in Media, 2002-2005

Bill Duke
With a wide range of credits to his name in almost every film discipline, including directing, producing, acting and writing, Bill Duke has founded Duke Media, formerly Yagya Productions, which has been in existence for approximately twenty years.  From 1998-2001, Mr. Duke served as the Time Warner Endowed Chair in the Department of Radio Television and Film at Howard University in Washington, DC.  He was then appointed to the National Endowment of the Humanities by former president Bill Clinton. Mr. Duke has also been appointed to the California State Film Commission Board by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Mr. Duke now serves on the Board of Trustees at the American Film Institute.

Bill Duke is a native of Poughkeepsie, NY and was educated at Boston University and NYU’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned his MFA.  He began his career directing off Broadway plays, including the New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of “Unfinished Women,” for which he won the 1974 Adelco Award.  He then went on to study for two years at the American Film Institute.  His AFI student project, a short film called The Hero, earned him the Lifetime Achievement Award as Best Young Director and subsequently the Gold Award at the Houston International Film Festival.

Bill Duke is now producing and directing independent projects and content for multiple platforms.  These projects serve to focus on morality and redemption and emphasize cultural history and family values.