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Joe Harper was
hired as director of the School of Journalism in the fall
of 1981.
When he arrived on campus, he was walking
into one of the biggest challenges he – and the School
– would ever face.
During the previous two years, two School
directors had been fired for clashing with the central administration.
The late Ralph Darrow, calm and conservative, had served –
twice – as Acting Director while the school desperately
searched for someone to save it from becoming the School of
Carpentry, Basketry and Journalism. Or something like that.
In 1979, long-time director, Murv Perry,
was sent packing by the administration. Barely a year later,
John Scott Davenport, a Scripps-Howard veteran and Perry's
replacement, lasted only six months. In that short period,
he angered faculty, students, the administration and, probably
most importantly, area professionals.
This was the School’s last chance.
Enter Harper, a veteran newspaper reporter
and editor. He had a recent Ph.D. in mass communication from
the University of Texas, and he was the managing editor of
the Wichita Eagle-Beacon, a Knight-Ridder paper.
Facing an angry administration and a burned-out
faculty, Harper clearly understood the task ahead of him.
“I had to help the School regain its
stature after years of turmoil,” he said. "From
the start," he said, “I thought the School needed
to go back to a professional emphasis--certainly at the undergraduate
level. That was consistent with my expertise and the school's
strengths historically."
Harper set out to restore the school’s
credibility. First, he re-established contacts with area media
professionals.
"Especially in the first year or so,
I tried to make as many professional meetings as possible,"
Harper recalled.
Second, he began hiring young, talented
faculty with solid professional experience: Stan Wearden,
Barb Hipsman, Bruce Larrick, Carl and Ann Schierhorn, Greg
Blase.
Third, he pushed student achievement by
emphasizing success in the Hearst and other contests, and
he saw that the number of student scholarships was increased.
"In my estimation, our emphasis--and
success--in the Hearst contest was important if only for our
morale,” Harper said.
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| Harper enjoys
a laugh in the mid-1980s with Al Fitzpatrick and Dave
Meeker. Al and Dave are both winners of the William Taylor
Distinguished Alumnus Award, and both teach part time
for Kent JMC. |
“Kent had never had a student place above fourth in
a monthly contest [since the 1970s]. We hit the jackpot that
year... All of a sudden, our students were being listed among
the Hearst placers on a fairly regular basis and the School
was finishing in the top ten or twenty in the country."
Fourth, he went to battle with student government to protect
the editorial and financial integrity of the Daily Kent Stater.
"Some faculty and I became worried about the threat to
freedom of the press," Harper said.
Finally, Harper saw that the Journalism
school and the Telecommunications program in the School of
Speech had much in common and that the future of communication
dictated more collaboration between the two.
Without a university mandate, Harper and
faculty members from both units -- Fred Endres, Ben Whaley,
Ed Kaminski and the late Tom Olson -- met secretly, discussing
a possible merger between the two groups. Two years later,
the School of Journalism and Mass Communication was formed.
In seven years, Harper had accomplished
much. When he announced his intention to resign as director
and to become a full time faculty member, university president
Mike Schwartz wrote him:
"... [Y]ou took a school that was in
very poor condition and turned it into a first rate, nationally
competitive enterprise. Your skills have been considerable
and your penchant for hard work has been a model for all of
us."
Harper retirerement
party
Interview
with Harper
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