On Nov. 9, 2009, Jim Smith, Morris Publishing Group's vice president for research and development, spoke to faculty and students about the challanges to the business model of print media and the prospects for developing a sustainable model to replace it. Smith focused on some of the groundbreaking research being done in Morris markets by scholars at the Reynolds Journalism Institute and the business schools at the University of Missouri and Michigan State to help Morris and the newspaper industry to develop a new model.
