Looking outside their business

Students in Albert Fitzpatrick's classes learn from a man who knows what it feels like to walk into the Akron Beacon Journal as the first person of color ever to be hired there; a man who went on to become News Editor, directing the May 1970 coverage of the Kent State disturbance resulting in a Pulitzer Prize for the paper.

He always knew he could achieve his goals and he wants to instill the same confidence in his students. "You only go to college for one reason – that is to learn how to learn and then you spend the rest of your life learning," Fitzpatrick tells all of his students.

Fitzpatrick is a man who heeds his own words. He continues to learn from those he teaches. “I’m inspired by young minds. My main vocation is being a journalist, but I've always enjoyed watching students learn."

When Pamela Tabar leaves her work as a magazine writer/editor she hosts a constant stream of students in her JMC office – the one that looks as though someone decided to put a desk in a broom closet.

It isn't the Taylor Hall office that keeps Tabar coming back to teach.

"I think that the fun part for me is getting to watch students work their way through a complicated story. Who are they going to call,

Magazine editor Pamela Tabar teaches Newswriting.

what questions are they going to ask, how are they going to phrase it? When they finally get the story, I get a part of that back."

After many years of professional success, Davis Young wants to pass on his knowledge to people entering the communications field. “I love the students. I’ve been extremely impressed with the quality of the students in my classes,” Young said.

Director Jeff Fruit said he believes it is personally revitalizing for professionals to give back to the community. “They get to look outside their business. They don’t do this for the money- we don’t pay them enough.”