This content copyright © Indiana University School of Journalism 2014
Journalism students may have more in common with the professor on the other side of the lectern than they realize. Many faculty members once sat right where they are, in a class at Ernie Pyle Hall, trying to master skills.
A significant number of faculty, staff and instructors studied at the School of Journalism before returning to teach. Some returned to familiar faces, teaching alongside their former teachers in recognizable classrooms. Others remember Ernie Pyle Hall with typewriters instead of computer labs.
But the common theme among the alumni now teaching at the school is a sense of returning to a community.
“To me, it was very family-like,” professor Shannon Martin said about transitioning into a teaching position at the school. “It’s always nice to come home.”
Here are the reflections of a few of the many faculty who also are journalism alumni.
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Senior Associate Dean Bonnie Brownlee , BAJ’72, MA’75
Though Bonnie Brownlee initially worried that she would be a “little piece of sand in the Sahara desert” at IU, she quickly felt like it was a friendly place.
She studied English, but taking J110 Foundations of Journalism and Mass Communication as a sophomore piqued her passion for journalism.
“As fast as I could, I started taking all the journalism classes,” she said.
She graduated with both journalism and English degrees, and soon returned for her master’s in journalism.
She began her Ph.D. work at the University of Wisconsin and augmented her journalism experience by helping found a radio tower in Nicaragua. She and her colleagues built the tower in order to test a theory.
From IDS archives
Brownlee in 1987, from an IDS article announcing her receiving the Gretchen A. Kemp award.
“My academic research was how and where woman get health information for their children,” she explained. She observed how women received information before and after the radio tower was built. At one point, she temporarily fled to safety when the Nicaraguan revolution escalated.
Though she hadn’t yet finished her doctoral dissertation, she began working at the School of Journalism on a temporary basis. Soon, a permanent job opened.
She credits Professor Emeritus Cleve Wilhoit, her undergraduate adviser and later professor, with encouraging woman in the journalism field at a time when gender equity was a new idea.
“I remember him as somebody who really believed that woman should be working and should be promoted,” she said.
Her first days teaching were terrifying, she remembers. During her first semester teaching J410 The Media as Social Institutions, she compared herself to the “big J410 people,” like former professor Ed Lambeth, and worried she wouldn’t teach to their standards.
“I like the community and my colleagues,” she said of her 33 years on the faculty. “If you’ve been around a place for a long time, you can see things that have been tried, and you know what works and doesn’t work.”
Associate professor Jim Kelly, MA’88, PhD’90
Photo by Grayson Harbour
Jim Kelly, MA'88, PhD'90, joined the faculty in 2007.
Until he began working on his master’s degree at IU, Jim Kelly never considered his interest in teaching.
“I found that I really enjoyed teaching, and I enjoyed doing the research,” Kelly said, reflecting on his years at IU.
After completing his doctorate, Kelly became the first doctoral degree alumnus to be invited back to teach in 2007. He had been an assistant professor in Southern Illinois University.
Initially, he worried about becoming a colleague of his former teachers.
“There’s always the worry that you will be treated as student, not an equal,” he said. “Every single one treated me as a colleague.”
The relationships he formed with the faculty mirrored to his student experience, he said
“It was always two people, the professor and student, pursuing insight and knowledge, and so coming back, the relationship was actually quite similar,” he said.
He said every professor he had at IU was a source of inspiration for his teaching today. Photojournalism professors Will Counts and John Ahlhauser, in particular, were the reason he applied for the master’s program.
“Nowadays, when I walk into an Ernie Pyle Hall classroom, they are with me,” Kelly said.
For example, he likes to use Counts’ phrase, “Zingo!” when one of his student makes an excellent observation. He invokes Ahlhauser often, too.
“I like to ask, ‘how do you know that?’ when someone makes an untenable declaration because that’s what John would ask,” he added.
A photojournalist by training, he has taught photo classes as well as initiated the Reporting HIV/AIDS in Africa course, which takes students to Kenya during the summer for an immersive reporting experience.
Kelly also said he is extremely proud of the history of the journalism school and hopes to preserve its more than 100 year saga.
“Having experienced the school both as a student and faculty, I am responsible for transitioning that tradition into a new environment,” Kelly said.
Assistant professor Gerry Lanosga, PhD’10, BA’99 (history)
Assistant professor Gerry Lanosga never expected he would be back teaching in the School of Journalism so soon after finishing his doctorate. He taught at Ball State for three years before returning to IU.
“It’s interesting to be a relatively recent graduate working along side faculty members who were my mentors as a student,” he said.
He remembers how faculty influenced him, particularly the members of his dissertation committee, advised by Professor Emeritus David Nord, who guided him to find his research interest.
His familiarity with the faculty, he added, is one of many benefits to working for his alma mater.
“I knew just about 90 percent of the faculty members before I set foot in the school for an interview,” he said. “It’s good to be in familiar surroundings.”
Lanosga returned to IU to pursue his doctorate after nearly 20 years of working in print and broadcast journalism. He gained a reputation as an investigative reporter while producing award-winning in-depth pieces for WTHR, the NBC affiliate in Indianapolis. He also is president of the Indiana Coalition for Open Government.
He said he’s looking forward to adapting to the ever-evolving field of media education.
“It’s nice to be on familiar turf, but also in an environment with challenges and changes underway,” he said.
Associate professor Mike Conway, BA’83 (telecommunications)
Mike Conway first fell in love with radio and broadcast news when his freshman adviser suggested he give it a try.
From then on, he split his time between journalism and telecommunications classes, and he also worked at the student radio station and WFIU, the NPR affiliate. He said he and other students working in broadcast quickly developed solid time management skills.
The late professor Richard Yoakam, who taught in both disciplines, was a mentor to Conway. Yoakam, whose teaching at IU spanned 30 years, brought broadcast news into the curriculum of the departments of journalism and telecommunication.
“He was the reason to study broadcast at IU from the 1950s through the 1980s,” Conway said.
Conway worked for more than 15 years in broadcast at several local television stations throughout the Midwest. He tried his hand at every job in the newsroom, including photographer, reporter, news anchor, sports anchor, producer, bureau chief, executive producer and news director. But amid his career, he discovered a love for teaching.
IU School of Journalism archives
Mike Conway, left, looked over camera equipment with another student and the late professor Richard Yoakam.
“What I found that I loved most about being a boss was developing students into journalists,” he said of his news director days, when he often hired students right out of college.
After earning his doctorate at the University of Texas, he began looking for teaching positions.
“When I got here, I knew I wanted to be back,” he said of his interview at IU.
He returned to begin his teaching career at Ernie Pyle Hall, striving to follow in the footsteps of his former mentor. His first office happened to be Yoakam’s old office.
“So many things for my career have happened in this building,” he said.
The classes he teaches, such as community journalism, often send students into Bloomington to report on local events. His research area is journalism history, which he wrote about in his book, The Origins of Television News in America: The Visualizers of CBS in the 1940s.
Conway said he occasionally flashes back to his years as a student. Once, this happened when he was teaching in a room where he’d sat as a student.
“I was standing in front of the class, and I was lecturing and I realized,” he said. “I just went blank. The students thought I had a heart attack or something. I hadn’t really thought about it until that moment. The computers went away and the typewriters were on the desks.”
Lecturer Nancy Comiskey, BA’74
Nancy Comiskey’s years as a journalism student were action packed. From the wind-down of the Vietnam war to President Nixon’s resignation, there was plenty of news to address and localize at the Indiana Daily Student, Comiskey said.
“That was a wonderful time to be here,” she said. “There was so much going on.”
The newsroom was a place that made her feel like she had a niche at a large university, Comiskey explained. She remembered Herman B Wells coming to the newsroom. and giving the students candy around the holidays and during late nights.
After graduating, she spent her career in Indianapolis, switching from magazine to newspaper reporting at The Indianapolis Star, including years as a managing editor.
IU Student Media Archives
Nancy Comiskey was in the IDS newsroom in December 1973, when Herman B Wells (left) stopped by. Comiskey is second from right, in print shirt and sweater.
In 2002, Comiskey served as interim director for IU Student Media when then-director David Adams took a leave of absence to teach in Hawaii. She then taught at the school as a visiting professor. She again returned to student media as interim director after Adams’ death in 2007, then continued as a lecturer in 2008.
Switching gears when she came to IU to teach wasn't easy at first.
“Teaching is a lot more challenging then I thought it would be, “ Comiskey said. “I’ve really learned from my colleagues here. They have been so generous with their time in helping me become a better teacher.”
She also remembers the teaching strategies of her own professors, in particular Ralph Holsinger.
“He was the toughest professor I had during my time here, and he challenged me and others to work harder,” she said. “He always challenged students to do more than they thought they could do, and I try to use that approach in my own classes today.
The strangest part about teaching after working in the field?
“You get used to the fact that your students never change in age,” Comiskey said with a laugh.
Her favorite aspect of teaching is seeing her students get their starts. She keeps in touch with numerous students who are crafting their own careers in design, editing, reporting and all things digital.
“I think they are going to change the face of the media. They are this new generation that has this fierce spirit,” she said.
Professor of practice Tom French, BA’81
Tom French returned to teach at his alma mater in 2009 after a 28-year newspaper reporting career that included a Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing.
“I had a great time as a reporter,” French said. “All along, I was doing quite a bit of teaching on the side. When (then) Dean Hamm called me to invite me to teach, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. “
After returning as faculty member, his 23-year-old and 53-year-old selves were having conversations while he walked across campus or through Ernie Pyle Hall, French said.
“It’s really funny because I’m sitting in classes teaching where I was a student,” he said. “But now it’s from a very different perspective.”
Faculty such as Professor Emeritus David Weaver, who was still teaching when French returned, had a profound impact on his student experience, French said. He also credits his experience at the Indiana Daily Student for contributing to his success as a journalist.
Courtesy photo
Tom French, early 1980s.
As a former editor-in-chief, he remembers working at the desk in the IDS newsroom where World War II correspondent and fellow alumnus Ernie Pyle once sat.
“That was great to sit there and think about all the talented journalists that had sat there before me,” he said. “It was a wonderful environment.”
Now, he enjoys watching students invest in their own projects.
“I just love working with the students and watching a student dive into a story,” said French, whose classes have engaged students who immerse themselves in in-depth stories for as long as entire semester.
French also has seen students parallel his IU journalism experience in other ways. A second runner up in the 1980 Hearst Journalism Program writing competition, he now has coached several students who have won the national title in the last few years.
Adjunct lecturer Marty Pieratt, BA’79, MA’11
Marty Pieratt was a self-described “renaissance student” as an undergraduate, trying his hand at radio, print and broadcast.
These varying classes, in addition to courses in ethics and law, helped him earn diverse jobs and be better teacher, he said.
Since graduating, Pieratt has owned and operated seven radio stations, and currently owns WJCP-1460AM in North Vernon, Ind. He has worked as a columnist for the Cincinnati Post and several southern Indiana newspapers, and he has worked on a congressional campaign and in college public relations.
“I was Mr. Convergence before the word convergence became cool,” he said, laughing.
Pieratt’s reporting has ranged from coverage of the World Series to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He is author of The First Black Red: The Story of Chuck Harmon, the First African American to Play Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds, published in 2010.
While teaching at the school, he also found himself back in student mode when he enrolled in the master’s degree program. He completed his degree in 2011 while teaching fulltime as a visiting lecturer.
“I could teach students what it’s like to cover government on all levels,” Pieratt said. “I could teach students what its like to be a public relations director. It was a nice full circle to come back to IU.”
Another reason IU set him up with a good foundation for his career was the influence of certain teachers, Pieratt added.
“For students, now and then, the teachers who make a lifetime impression are those who take the time to show they care and are, very simply, nice.” he said. “For me, that would include our dean, Richard Gray, who I was lucky enough to have for an adviser. It's amazing that he took the time to do that for a handful of random students. “
Real world experience – including a 1989 Emmy for work while reporting at Cincinnati’s NBC affiliate, WLWT — fulfilled his journalistic goals
But returning to teach was another aspiration. Teaching at IU give him the chance to share with students lessons they’ll carry into their lives and careers, he explained.
“It was really a dream come true to come back and give back,” he said. “There’s a point where you feel like helping others achieve their goals and find their bliss, because I had already done that. “
Assistant professor Jessica Gall Myrick, MA’07
Jessica Gall Myrick’s return to Bloomington was like a gravitational pull, she explained.
“I feel really fortunate to come back here,” she said. “I’ll just be sitting in my office and I’ll notice I’m smiling.”
After earning her master’s degree, she became the school’s first director of experiential education and recruitment. She left in 2009 to work in broadcast, then pursued a doctorate at the University of North Carolina.
“I’m very grateful not just to have a job, but especially to have one here at IU,” Myrick said of her fall 2013 return to Bloomington. “There is such a community around the School of Journalism.”
The faculty she worked with during her master’s studies is the reason she is in the teaching profession, Myrick added. For example, taking professor Radhika Parameswaran’s classes completely changed the way she looked at media.
She said she also valued Parameswaran’s teaching skills.
“I definitely try to emulate Radhika’s ability to get the best out of her students and to challenge them to constantly improve,” she said.
She also took two broadcast news classes with Interim Dean Lesa Hatley Major, which convinced her she wanted to work in the broadcast journalism field.
“I feel a tremendous debt of gratitude and responsibility to continue that tradition of high standards and research,” she said of her former professors, now colleagues.
As an alumna now working where she studied, she has occasional flashbacks. She described going to a meeting in one of her former classrooms, and feeling a momentary panic that she hadn’t done the reading.
“I now am the one assigning the readings,” she said with a laugh.
Professor Shannon Martin, MA’87
Shannon Martin referred to her years as a journalism master’s student at IU as “life-changing.”
Her inspiration as she teaches is Professor Emeritus Jon Dilts, who was also a good friend to her as she completed her graduate studies.
“I think of him often as I advise students and continue to work on my research,” she said. “He was a very good role model in life as well as at school.”
The adjustment between a student role and a teaching role was a new experience, however, she explained.
“It’s very different to be a student than a faculty member,” she said. “It’s the same difference between being a child and the parent of a family.”
The school itself is like a home, Martin added.
“It’s a place that I had good experiences,” she said. “I continue to learn at IU. It’s a wonderful environment in part because it’s always a friendly place.”
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Among the other alumni who have joined the faculty or staff at the School of Journalism are faculty members Dennis Elliott, Erika Biga Lee and Teresa White; adjunct lecturers Chris Doran, Maria Heslin, Steve Higgs, Nancy Metz and Ryan Piurek; and staff members Gena Asher, Marcia Debnam, Emily Harrison, Anne Kibbler, Andy Koop and Audrie Osterman.
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