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Posted 11-18-98
Future Woodwards and Bernsteins will need more than paper and pencil to report the news. Journalism of the 21st century will demand writing skills for print and electronic media, including the Internet.
John Bassett, dean of Case Western Reserve University's College of Arts and Sciences, announced that the school will recruit a national expert in writing for the media for the University's first professorship in journalism and media writing.
Shirley Wormser Shapero of Cleveland, a 1940 graduate of Flora Stone Mather College with a B.A. in English, gave a $1.25 million endowment to the University for the Shirley Wormser Professorship in Journalism and Media Writing.
The formation of the chair came under the advisement of her friend Bert D. Lynn, a retired vice president of Western Airlines. Lynn spent many years in public relations, advertising, and marketing. A native of Cleveland Heights, Lynn graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Adelbert College in 1938 and launched his journalism career during his undergraduate years as a freelance journalist for national magazines.
Media writing spans the range of newspapers, television, radio, and now the Internet. "The field of journalism has a large umbrella today. I want students to find this at my university," says Shapero.
The Mather alumna has a long interest in journalism, which stems from her days with the student newspaper at Adelbert College. As the drama editor of The Reserve Tribune, she reviewed plays and interviewed celebrities when they visited Cleveland.
The Wormser Professorship will represent a new area of teaching concentration for the English department, providing students with the knowledge needed to enter 21st century writing careers. Some of those careers will be found in print and electronic journalism; feature writing for travel, science, business, and industrial publications; and script writing for video and films.
"This is something that students have been interested in having for some time," said Suzanne Ferguson, chair of the English department and the Samuel B. and Virginia C. Knight Professor of the Humanities. "We are trying to give students another string in their bow for lucrative jobs and another way to use their talents."
Journalism classes, combined with a major in another subject area, should prepare a student well for a journalism career, Bassett said.
The English department has offered beginning and advanced media writing in the past, although not on a regular basis, according to Ferguson.
She envisions that the new professor will redesign the media writing courses and add others at the 300 and 400 levels to give undergraduates and graduate students the additional preparation that may open up career opportunities in various fields.
"I think this is going to be of key interest for students," Ferguson added. "Mrs. Shapero had a practical end in mind and came forward at a time when the University was thinking along those lines."
The search has begun to find the new Wormser Professor. Ferguson welcomes nominations from the University and the community and plans to invite all nominees to apply.
"We anticipate that the search for an appropriate candidate pool may continue into winter, but we hope to finish by April," Ferguson said.
Members of the English department are serving with Ferguson on the search committee. Also joining the committee are Henry Adams, professor of art history and a frequent contributor to Smithsonian Magazine and other periodicals, Kathy Chapman, chair and professor of the Department of Communication Sciences; and Thomas Shrout, associate vice president of public affairs and director of the Office of University Communication.
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