Overview:

Juan-Carlos Molleda will resign from his position as the dean of the School of Journalism and Communication Aug. 1 and will stay on as a University of Oregon faculty member after a university audit of his alleged travel policy violations.

A previous version of this story and headline incorrectly stated the relationship of the university’s audit of former School of Journalism and Communication Dean Juan-Carlos Molleda’s travel spending to the June 9 publication of a story in the Daily Emerald. UO Provost Chris Long told the Emerald that the travel spending audit was initiated following an email Molleda sent in February 2025. The SOJC is undergoing an unrelated audit, announced in December 2024 by the Board of Trustees, as part of an institution-wide initiative.

This story was previously updated with comments from Juan-Carlos Molleda.

The dean of University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC) will step down from his leadership role after facing scrutiny over his questionable travel spending, Provost Chris Long announced July 8.

Juan-Carlos Molleda, the school’s dean since 2016, will “step back” into his role as a professor Aug. 1, Long said in an email to SOJC community members. 

The student newspaper at UO, the Daily Emerald, first began investigating Molleda last winter. A June 9 Emerald article revealed alleged violations of UO’s travel policy — including first-class international flights and undisclosed personal days. Long told the Emerald that UO officials had launched an internal audit of his travel earlier this year. The SOJC is also undergoing an audit as part of a university-wide initiative approved by the school’s Board of Trustees at its December 2024 meeting.

Long’s email did not mention the internal audit or concerns about Molleda’s travel. He said his team plans to engage immediately with the SOJC community about the selection of an interim dean, including through an online form available over the summer. 

The school plans to launch a national search this fall for Molleda’s permanent replacement as dean. 

Molleda said in an email to Lookout Eugene-Springfield that he will go on leave for research in fall 2025 and winter 2026, then return to SOJC’s faculty. He said the time will allow him to “re-engage” with international scholarship and prepare to return to the classroom.

“With immense gratitude for this transformative chapter, I believe the moment is right to make space for new leadership, strengthen unity within the school community, and embrace fresh ideas,” Molleda said.

Molleda’s travel expenses for the 2023-24 academic year were $46,000, according to the Daily Emerald’s investigation of travel records. His travel expenses are capped at $30,000 per year, per his offer letter, though Molleda told faculty in February that he is allowed to use other funds for travel such as his endowed deanship.

According to the Emerald, Molleda took multiple personal days on some of his trips and didn’t disclose them to UO, which the university requires. Many of his university-funded flights were also first-class, which university travel rules prohibit. 

Molleda sent written statements to the Emerald during its reporting, but he declined to be interviewed by the student newspaper.

The SOJC faces a $701,000 deficit, one of many departments at UO in financial difficulties. The university faces a $25 million to $30 million deficit. Officials said last month that the university needs to cut 4% in its administrative departments and cut 2.5% across schools and colleges, adding that administrators hope to have their plans finalized by mid-September.

“I recognize that this change comes at a challenging financial time for both the School of Journalism and Communication and our entire institution,” Long said in his announcement.

In his role as dean, Molleda makes $332,766, according to UO salary records from January 2025. The average salary for a SOJC faculty member in 2022-23 was $109,000.  

Tristin Hoffman, the student journalist who wrote the story on Molleda in the Daily Emerald and is now a Snowden intern at the Oregonian, told Lookout Eugene-Springfield that she hopes for the SOJC “to just train students to be the best journalists or advertisers or public relations specialists as they can, and I think that is through closing any budget deficits they have.”

Grace Chinowsky graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in journalism. She served as metro editor, senior news editor and editor in chief of the university’s independent student newspaper, The GW Hatchet, and interned at CNN and MSNBC. Grace covers Eugene’s city government and the University of Oregon.