Diane McFarlin is dean of the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida, which is launching an Innovators Series with support from Knight Foundation. Photo credit: Steve Johnson.

When I became dean of my alma mater, the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, just 18 short months ago I joined a school that was strong in many areas. The college is blessed with excellence in research and graduate education, mixed with historic strength in undergraduate studies of advertising, journalism, public relations and telecommunication, and a Division of Media Properties, with seven broadcast licenses and digital properties, all located in our building.

Florida has long been considered one of the nation’s top programs, due to both its size and the quality of individual programs. My predecessors as dean have positioned us well, forecasting the rise of digital nearly 30 years ago; establishing venues and programs for media innovation and research; and opening the Innovation News Center, among other signature programs. However, in this time of great disruption, we need to assert extra measures of agility and foresight to ensure that our school remains a world-class leader in digital communication, education and research.

We are building on our pioneering tradition with our latest program called The Innovators Series, which Knight Foundation supports.

The Innovators is designed to bring six leaders in the information industries to our campus over the next 24 months. These are the rarely celebrated influencers who are working on the leading edge of data, mobile and engagement.

These women and men will come to our Gainesville campus for two days of immersive collaboration. This is not a series for canned, polished presentations. It is designed for these people who are inventing the future to work alongside our students and faculty.

We’ve named the first class of these Innovators, and we will select a second class in the coming academic year.

The series launches in September, with Mark Little of Storyful, and continues with Melissa Bell of Vox.com in November and Nicco Mele, author of “The End of Big: How the Internet Makes David the New Goliath” in February.

We are excited to bring these provocative thinkers to our campus and look forward to seeing what happens when we combine their forward thinking with our students’ passion and our faculty’s expertise.

One of my goals as dean was to build on our college’s tradition of practice blended with theory, and to ensure that every undergraduate student who passes through Weimer Hall gets a full immersion experience ­— working on real-world media with real-world audiences.

Our media properties have long sustained that opportunity for our telecommunication students and now, with the 100-seat Innovation News Center entering its second year, that opportunity has expanded to our journalism majors as well. Launching later this summer, a new strategic communication agency will present our advertising and public relations students with a similar level of hands-on experience.

We plan to leverage these assets, and the seven media properties, heavily throughout the Innovators’ visits. We see this series as an opportunity to enliven our curriculum, co-create projects with the Innovators and students, and stimulate new ideas for scholarship.

We are very excited to explore how the curiosity of these individuals is driving new questions and answers, and how new technologies are changing the way we engage people, acquire and understand news and information, and connect with others.

Perhaps most important, we will share what we learn. Follow along on our site as this series progresses.

Prior to joining the College of Journalism and Communications in January 2013, Diane McFarlin was publisher of the Herald-Tribune Media Group in Sarasota. She is past president of the American Society of News Editors and has served six times as a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes.