July 21, 2000 UNT Inhouse publication: Wells serves as naval school superintendent for summer

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Wells serves as naval school superintendent for summer

Richard Wells, UNT professor of journalism, has been appointed superintendent of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., for the summer.

Wells has served in the U.S. Naval Reserve since 1974 and was on active duty from 1967 Photo of Richard Wells to 1972. Trained as a Navy diver and surface warfare officer, he has held the rank of rear admiral for four years. He has been a public affairs officer since 1980.

Wells is the first U.S. Naval reservist, the first Navy diver and the first public affairs officer to fill the role of superintendent. He replaces Rear Adm. Robert Chaplin, with whom he has worked on several public affairs projects.

"It's a great honor and pleasure for me to be the first reserve flag officer to be superintendent," Wells says. "To be asked by the Chief of Naval Operations to do any job in the Navy is an honor. To be asked to be associated with NPS, and then be called back to be superintendent, is an even greater honor."

More Naval reservists, both enlisted personnel and officers, are on recall now than at any time since the Persian Gulf War, he says.

Wells joined the UNT journalism faculty in 1979. He was department chair from 1987 through May of this year, when he returned to full-time teaching. He also served as adviser for the North Texas Daily, UNT's student newspaper, from 1979 to 1988.

He is a former reporter and editor with the Denton Record-Chronicle, Dallas Times Herald and Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Wells also served as public relations director of San Jacinto College North near Houston.

The author of Naval Public Affairs Policy and Regulations: A Self-Study Guide, Wells has published numerous articles in professional journals and feature stories in military publications and newspapers. He was the editor of Insights, the journal of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Wells received his bachelor's degree in psychology and management and his master's degree in journalism from UNT. He received his doctoral degree in educational administration and public relations from Texas A&M University.