NEWS RELEASE
Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu)
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
http://www.nsula.edu/news
6/21/2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES – One of the leading scholars in journalism over the past 60 years has been honored in a new book published by the Northwestern State University Press.
“Freedom Fighter, A Festschrift Honoring John C. Merrill on His Six Decades of Service to Journalism Education,” honors Merrill, a professor emeritus at the University of Missouri. For the past two years, he served as the Erbon W. and Marie Wise Endowed Chair of Journalism at NSU. The book was edited by Donald W. Hatley, dean of Liberal Arts, and Paula F. Furr, head of the Department of Journalism at Northwestern.
Former students of Merrill such as NSU Vice President for External Affairs Jerry Pierce and Sabine Index Editor/Publisher Robert Gentry, along with colleagues and journalism scholars from around the world, contributed essays discussing Merrill’s impact on their lives and the field of journalism.
“Scholars in the field of journalism, nationally and internationally, would be hard pressed to find anybody who has influenced American journalism thought as much as John C. Merrill during his 60 years of writing and teaching,” said Hatley. “So, part of the reason for doing the Festschrift was to offer some of the best thinkers in American journalism an opportunity to assess Dr. Merrill’s impact. Almost single handedly, Dr. Merrill, for over 60 years, focused attention of American and international journalism scholars on global journalism, the ethics of journalism and the philosophy of journalism.”
According to Hatley, one of the most important contributions of the book was to let many of those who were influenced by Merrill find out something about his career during the 10 years before he hit the national scene with the first serious book about global journalism.
Merrill was the first person to hold the Wise Endowed Chair of Journalism.
“The book to honor Dr. Merrill was a tangible way for us to thank him for his service to journalism education and to NSU," said Furr. “We are indebted to Maj. Gen. and Mrs. Wise for funding our endowed chair in journalism, which allowed us to bring in such a distinguished educator as Dr. Merrill." We are proud of the book and proud to have had Dr. Merrill be NSU's first recipient of the Wise Endowed Chair in Journalism.”
Merrill taught at various universities in the U.S. and abroad He previously taught at Northwestern for 11 years in the 1950’s and 60’s while also handling college publicity and serving as adviser for the student newspaper, the Current Sauce, and the student yearbook, the Potpourri. Merrill was also a faculty member at Texas A&M, the University of Maryland, the University of Virginia, California State-Long Beach, the University of North Carolina and Missouri.
He 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 more than 100 journal articles.
For more information on the book, contact the NSU Department of Journalism at (318) 357-4425.
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