Casey Schmitt, assistant professor of communication, has accepted a position at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington and will not be returning to Lakeland University in the fall.

In February, Schmitt was contacted by Gonzaga University with a very generous offer to be a part of their faculty. He accepted the offer after much consideration and will start working at Gonzaga University in August.

In an email Schmitt sent out to communication majors and minors, he said, “This should have no impact on [students’] classes or degree programs. I am currently working and will be working with other faculty all summer to ensure that classes, expectations and comm program activities continue smoothly, without interruption.”

Schmitt stated that he will be easy to keep in touch with even when he’s at Gonzaga University.

Schmitt earned a PhD in communication arts with a focus in rhetoric, politics and culture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2015. He also has a masters degree in folklore from the University of Oregon.

Schmitt is currently in his second year of teaching rhetoric and communication at Lakeland. He led a ThinkHaus discussion this year on presidential debates and started up the Communication Symposium.

Schmitt stated, “Leaving Lakeland and our community is a very difficult decision. I will miss working with all [students] and will be using these last few months to get as much out of our classroom interactions as possible.”