NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

12/07/2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES -Journalism students at Northwestern State University are having the opportunity to study under one of the nation's leading journalism educators this year.

Dr. John Merrill, professor emeritus at the University of Missouri, is a member of Northwestern's faculty for the 2005-2006 academic year as first person to hold the Erbon W. and Marie Wise Endowed Chair in Journalism.

Merrill began his teaching career at Northwestern in the 1950's and has also served on the faculty at Texas A&M, the University of Maryland, the University of Virginia, California State (Long Beach), and the University of North Carolina and Missouri.

He has taught internationally in Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Egypt and has lectured and held workshops in at least 70 other countries. He is the author of 30 books and at least 100 journal articles.

This fall, Merrill taught two journalism courses on journalism ethics and the capstone course, process and effect of communications for seniors. He will teach Journalism 2020 in the spring, which will also be open to non-majors.

"In ethics class, I taught students how hard it is to know when you are being ethical. They learned about the theories of ethics and problems faced by journalists and how to apply them to situations faced by journalists," said Merrill. "I want to raise their sensitivity to ethics and how important it is to our freedom."

Merrill said ethics covers wide ranging every day problems for journalists such as when to tell the truth and when to hide part of the truth and objectivity.

According to Merrill, the capstone course is a rehash of what the students have covered while they have studied journalism at NSU.

"I provide them with another perspective to help them fill in the gaps they may not have dealt with," he said. "I make sure they know the things that students at other universities know so they will be on par with other students with a bachelor's degree in journalism."

As the Wise Endowed Chair, Merrill arranged a lecture by Ralph L. Lowenstein, dean emeritus of the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida.

Merrill also plans to visit with newspaper publishers from around the state to promote Northwestern's journalism program and find out how it can better prepare students for a career in the field. He also plans to hold a statewide conference this spring to bring editors and publishers to the university.

The Erbon W. and Marie Wise Endowed Chair in Journalism was created with a $400,000 gift Maj. Gen. Erbon W. Wise and his wife Marie to the NSU Foundation. The gift was matched with $600,000 from the Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund to create a $1 million endowment.

Erbon Wise, a 1941 graduate of Northwestern, is a charter member of the NSU Hall of Distinction, the Long Purple Line. His wife, Marie, also graduated from Northwestern in 1941.

Erbon Wise became the publisher of 36 daily and weekly newspapers and Court News publications before retiring in 1998. Wise is the author of 19 books.

In addition to serving 27 years in the U.S. Army Air Force, the U.S. Selective Service System, U.S. Army Reserve and the Louisiana National Guard, Wise served Louisiana as adjutant general and as state director of the Selective Service System, Civil Defense and the Office of Emergency Preparedness.

Marie Wise became a teacher after graduating from Northwestern. She was co-publisher of several newspapers with her husband. For 24 years, she wrote a popular weekly column, "Challenge of Genealogy," which appeared in 35 Louisiana newspapers.

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