Newsroom to Classroom   

Janet Weaver has left the helm of Florida's Sarasota Herald-Tribune to become dean of faculty at the Poynter Institute.

Weaver, 40, who had been executive editor of the Herald-Tribune for four years and with the paper since 1997, says a part of her will miss the daily newsroom action. But she says the Poynter opportunity, where she'll be working to develop the journalism organization's curriculum, was too good to pass up. "I've always loved to teach," she says. "My favorite part of the editing job is the teaching component of it."

Before Sarasota, Weaver was managing editor of Kansas' Wichita Eagle. At Poynter she'll direct 20 faculty members and develop programs tailored to the news industry. She's familiar with Poynter, having led leadership, ethics and other courses there, but says, "This will be a whole new road for me.... I have a whole new culture to learn."

Weaver, who has just a 40-minute commute to her new gig from her Sarasota home, says she'll "still be reading my Herald-Tribune every day" and that "it's about as perfect a situation for me personally as it could be."

Sarasota Publisher Diane McFarlin says she's hoping to make a decision on Weaver's successor by the end of December and would like to have someone in place at the beginning of the new year.