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Degree and Year: BJ '38, MA '39 Title: Professor Emeritus City and State: Columbia, Mo.
For 25 years, a record at the School, I taught the famed History and Principles of Journalism course (now #309), established and taught by Founder Walter Williams in 1908. I had more than 10,000 students during those 75 class sessions. The other area that occupied much of my time was more than 10 years as Director of Graduate Studies. And during my 25 years at the J-School, I had 100 MA theses and 25 PhD dissertations. How did you get your job? I submitted my resume to J-School in late 1955 when I was teaching at Memphis State College (now the University of Memphis). Instead of placing my records among those seeking jobs, Dean Earl English invited me to come and talk to the H&P class, then taught by former Dean Frank Luther Mott, who was ill. I didn't know until I got to Columbia that this was part of an interview to replace Mott. I later met with President Elmer Ellis and as the trite saying goes the rest is history. What is the best professional lesson learned at the Missouri J-School? This is hard to say. But I learned you need humor to keep a class of from 200 to 400 awake. They were there because they had to have the course to graduate. What is your favorite J-School memory? Having the MIPA name its top adviser award in my name is one. Another is having the Kappa Tau Alpha Top Adviser Award named for me. (I was executive director of this honor society for 30 years, a record. Here, too, I replaced Mott as I had in H&P.) What would be your best advice to current students? The lesson I tried to relay to students was to look around their classroom and note the variety of persons there from so many parts of the Americas and the world. Get acquainted with those students; you can help them and they can help you. And in your future travels you will run into them again they can help you. Missouri is unique in this respect, such a broad based student body. Also, take advantage of the significance of the J-School past history. What do you consider to be your greatest professional achievement? My greatest professional achievement involves the Missouri Press Association and the Missouri newspapers. I have published five volumes about this broad topic. And I was elected to the Missouri Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2001. I have written eight books, five about Missouri newspapers, their histories, sketches of editors/publishers, and the like. The last Show-Me Journalists: The First 200 Years appeared in late 2003 and was sponsored by the MPA. There is a copy in the J-Library. What are you currently working on? I am working on shorter items, articles dealing with similar topics. The MPA has a monthly magazine for all state publishers and others, Missouri Press News. I am the MPA historian. What is your secret to success? A major secret to success is to marry someone you love, who will support you with her faith in you, will raise your kids and who will provide you with eternal blessings all your life. Last January 18, 2004, my wife, Myrtle and I, had been married for 63 years. We have three children, none in journalism. We believe in letting our children develop their own interests and concerns. My future, at 88 is quite limited, is to get as much out of life as possible. Our major traveling has been completed, but we did visit more than 20 countries earlier and all 50 states, much of Canada and some of Mexico. News Releases
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| Revised: 03 June 2009. Copyright © 2009 The Curators of the University of Missouri | Contact the J-School | |
William H. Taft, BJ '38, MA '39