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NEWS RELEASE
Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu
)
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
10/11/2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES - Ralph L. Lowenstein, dean emeritus of the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida, will lecture at Northwestern State University on Friday, Oct. 28 at 9 a.m. in the Ora G. Williams Studio (Room 142) in Kyser Hall. His talk is part of the NSU Department of Journalism Movers and Shakers Series. Admission is free and open to the public. Lowenstein's topic will be "Forget the Experts: Newspapers Can Attract More Readers."
An award-winning reporter, he entered journalism education
and served on the faculties of four different universities. During
his tenure as dean at Florida, he was a pioneer in the development
of the electronic newspaper, and was considered one of the top
fund-raisers in journalism education.
He was visiting professor and head of journalistic studies at
Tel Aviv University from 1967 to 1968, and was chairman of the
News-Editorial Department of the University of Missouri School
of Journalism before going to the University of Florida as dean
in 1976. He retired from the deanship in 1994 after 18 years
as head of one of the largest and most successful communications
programs in the U.S., with more than 3,000 majors. As dean, he
supervised two television stations and three radio stations. In
1994 he received the Freedom Forum Medallion as Journalism Administrator
of the Year.
Lowenstein holds two degrees from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. He was a press critic on CBS network television news from 1975 to 1976. From 1990 to 1991, he was president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the organization of journalism educators in the U.S. and Canada.
A native of Danville, Va., Lowenstein volunteered as an 18-year-old for the Israeli army during that country's War of Independence in 1948 and saw combat 10 days after arriving in the country. He later served two years in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.
Lowenstein is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Columbia University Journalism Alumni Award for Distinguished Service to Journalism, the Society of Professional Journalists Distinguished Service Award for Research about Journalism, the Florida Scholastic Press Association Gold Medallion for Service to High School Journalism and the State of Israel's 30th Anniversary Medal for Service to Jewish Causes. He has been listed in Who's Who in America since 1972.
He is the author or co-author of five books, including a novel about Israel's War of Independence, "Bring My Sons from Far," which was published in one hardback and two paperback editions.