Dean Roy M. Fisher

• Dean, 1971-1982

By Paul Hagey

Roy M. Fisher, editor of the Chicago Daily News, became the fifth dean of the Missouri School of Journalism on April 1, 1971. In his roughly 10-year tenure as dean, Fisher brought a practical focus to Missouri's journalism education program and oversaw some significant changes in how the School was structured.

Fisher received his bachelor's degree from Kansas State University in 1940. After short stints as a reporter at the Pratt (Kan.) Daily Tribune, the Hastings (Neb.) Daily Tribune and the Chicago Daily News, in addition to military service in World War II, he earned a yearlong Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University in 1950-1951. After Harvard, he returned to Chicago and worked in various capacities for the Chicago Daily News and Field Enterprises, which owned the Daily News. In 1965, Fisher became editor of the paper, only to leave the position five years later for the Missouri School of Journalism.

Fisher had a reputation for being strong-willed, and some felt his decisions conflicted with tradition. His industry perspective was not like that of his two predecessors, both of whom had earned doctoral degrees. Despite controversy, Fisher pushed the School to evolve with his three priorities as dean: modernize the news-editorial department; reshape the broadcast department; and update the advertising and publishing programs.

Roy M. Fisher

The news-editorial department grew under Fisher's leadership. After many years in the making, the School finally established a weekly magazine that would be distributed with the Columbia Missourian during the 1971-1972 school year. Vibrations, which would later become the city weekly news and entertainment magazine Vox, had Fisher's blessing.

Fisher used his newspaper experience to return the Missourian to financial stability. Having experienced losses for three years prior to his tenure, the newspaper posted profits for Fisher's 10 years as dean. In 1977, Fisher oversaw the Missourian's technological advancement through a gift of equipment from the Missourian Publishing Association, which allowed him to claim "the Missourian continues to have one of the most advanced newsrooms in the country."

One of the hallmarks of Fisher's deanship was the expansion of the broadcast department. By hiring Dave Dugan, a well-respected CBS broadcaster, to direct it in 1972, he energized the department. Fisher also helped secure funding for the establishment of KBIA-FM. This National Public Radio-affiliate radio station signed on in 1972 with a 100,000-watt signal. For KOMU-TV, he allocated funds for equipment that helped the station move to color in 1972. Fisher also coordinated an increase in the amount of student involvement in the station's operation.

Fisher worked hard to secure funding for a permanent endowed chair in the advertising department, but fell short. The attempt later played a part in some setbacks during the School's 1981 re-accreditation process. In 1980 Fisher appointed Linda Shipley as head of the advertising department. Shipley helped steer the program right and set the foundation for broadening the area's innovative real-world training.

During his tenure, Fisher received some internal pressure from scholars on the faculty who thought that not enough emphasis was placed on developing the research side of the School. Some of this pressure was never resolved but could have been foreshadowed by the search committee's mandate to select a dean who would focus on the practicalities of journalism. Fisher was definitely that person, and he proved to have a lot of influence. Of the 59 journalism faculty members at the time of his retirement from dean in 1981, 45 were hired during his tenure.

Among those hires were several young professionals who became stalwarts of the School, including George Kennedy, Daryl Moen, Don Ranly, Steve Weinberg and Brian Brooks. Brooks, who joined the faculty in 1974, said that Fisher's driven nature was responsible for some of the controversy.

"He came in and shook up the place. Change was needed, and he was an agent of change," Brooks said.

Regardless of some of the controversy in his tenure, his work in helping to design, fund and coordinate the building of Gannett Hall, which opened in 1979 and now houses an auditorium bearing his name, received widespread praise. In 1978, he also played an important role in recruiting Investigative Reporters and Editors to establish its headquarters at the School.

Fisher worked to diversify the student body as well. When he arrived on campus, he said in a speech during Journalism Week in 1982, "I found only five blacks in a student body of 800 people. And, worse, nothing being done about it." To do something about it, he developed a series of workshops to recruit black students called the Missouri Urban Journalism Workshops.

The Journalism School became a legacy for Dean Fisher's family. His daughters, Patricia and Sarah, each earned a master's degree from the Journalism School while Fisher was dean.

Fisher stepped down from the deanship in 1981, and broadcast faculty member Elmer Lower stepped in to serve as dean for a one-year appointment. Fisher ended his tenure as a controversial figure, yet his strong will and straightforward thinking helped the School transition strongly into the modern era. In 1981, the Associated Press Managing Editors ranked the Missouri School of Journalism as the number one journalism school in the nation.

Before retiring to an area outside of Chicago with his wife, Fisher served as professor and director of the School's graduate program in Washington, D.C., from 1983-1989. He died in 1999.

Timeline

• 1918 Born in Stockton, Kan.
• 1940 Received a Bachelor of Arts from Kansas State University
• 1950-1951 Served as a Nieman Fellow, Harvard University
• 1952 Awarded Outstanding Young Man of the Year, Chicago Junior Chamber of Commerce
• 1952 and 1968 Awarded the Professional Journalism Society National Distinguished Service Award for Reporting
• 1959-1965 Served as editorial executive for Field Enterprises Educational Corporation
• 1965-1971 Served as editor of the Chicago Daily News
• 1971-1982 Served as dean of the Missouri School of Journalism
• 1983-1989 Served as a professor and director of Missouri School of Journalism's Washington, D.C., graduate program
• 1999 Died in Evanston, Ill.