Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, a renowned Associated Press war correspondent, an experienced public relations pro and a veteran Canadian Broadcasting Corporation producer . . .
Four versatile and respected media professionals with teaching experience have joined the faculty of the WVU Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism, Dean Christine M. Martin announced.
“The caliber of these new faculty members is truly outstanding,”Martin said.”Each one brings years of professional experience and a passion for teaching that will enhance our growing reputation as one of the top journalism schools in the nation.”
The new faculty members are:
p. Terry Wimmer, Shott Chair in Journalism
p. West Virginia native and 1996 Pulitzer Prize winner, Terry Wimmer is a 1976 graduate of the WVU School of Journalism. He fills the Shott Chair in Journalism, endowed by the Hugh I. Shott, Jr. Foundation to honor the Shott family’s leadership in West Virginia’s news media and to enhance journalism education in the state.
Wimmer will teach courses in reporting and editing, on-line journalism and new media.”Terry brings more than two decades of experience to our students, and he’s an accomplished new media designer and respected teacher,”Martin said.”We are delighted that he has come home to WVU .”
After graduating from WVU in 1976, Wimmer spent a decade at the Charleston Gazette as reporter, assistant city editor and sports editor. In 1986, he joined the Orange County Register in California, where he led the Pulitzer -winning team that exposed a fertility clinic’s illegal theft of women’s eggs and embryos. A series of more than 200 articles spurred the review of fertility clinic regulations nationwide.
During his career, Wimmer also has used New Media technologies to design newspaper sections and Internet sites. He also spent six summers teaching rising high-school students for the California Scholastic Press Association and during the 1996-1997 school year served as the Atwood Chair of Journalism at the University of Alaska.
Recently, Wimmer completed his Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Freedom Forum Fellow.
In addition to the 1996 Pulitzer Prize, Wimmer has received many honors. In 1998, he received the WVU Distinguished Alumni Award, and in 1996 he won the Investigative Reporters and Editors Best of the Best Award (1996).
p. George Esper, Visiting Professor, News Editorial
p. George Esper, a former Associated Press (AP) war correspondent known for his coverage of the Vietnam War, returns to WVU for a three-year appointment as visiting professor. He will teach upper-level writing courses, including The History of War Correspondence.
“George Esper spent the spring 2000 semester with us and impressed our students with his extensive experience covering world issues,”Martin said. He s a natural-born teacher, so we brought him back for a longer stay.”
Born and raised in Uniontown, Pa., Esper earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from WVU in 1953 and joined AP in 1958. Considered the”Canadian Mountie”of the AP because he always got his story, he covered the wars in Vietnam and Iraq and U.S. peace missions in Somalia and Bosnia.
In addition to his war coverage, Esper reported many major stories in the United States, including Hurricane Andrew, the great Midwest floods and the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. In 1992, he was inducted in the WVU Academy of Distinguished Alumni.
p. Wynn Norman, Associate Professor, Public Relations
p. Dr. Wynn Norman comes to WVU from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, where she taught public relations, desktop publishing, institutional publications, advertising, copywriting and international broadcasting. She was also advisor to the college radio station and has worked in the radio newspaper, desktop-publishing and magazine industries.
After receiving her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, Norman earned a master’s degree from the New York Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. from the University of Michiganall in communication fields.
Normans research interests include investigating the role of news coverage in shaping people’s views of other cultures and countries, specifically image-building within public relations and its impact on trade and tourism.
Norman also breeds sport ponies, small thoroughbreds for the Olympic-discipline sports, and has been the director of communications for breeding publications and associations.
“I look forward to joining the WVU community and the School of Journalism because they seem like places where challenges are welcomed,”Norman said.”I think my style and goals are well-suited to that kind of environment.”
p. Judy Darling, Visiting Professor, Broadcast News
p. Judy Darling, a former Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reporter and producer, joins the WVU School of Journalism as a visiting professor of broadcasting.
A native of Canada, Darling earned a master’s in journalism from the University of Western Ontario and spent 13 years as a CBC reporter and producer in Ottawa. There she did every kind of reporting, including a consumer advocacy column that spurred legislative changes.
Darling’s teaching experience includes a year in the Middle East, where she taught veiled women, and a stint teaching at Central Missouri State. At WVU she will teach electronic field reporting, broadcast news writing and introductory broadcasting.
“I’m excited about teaching and about helping improve the quality of writing for broadcasting,”Darling said.”This summer I’ve especially enjoyed the beauty of West Virginia and the friendliness of everyone in the School of Journalism and at WVU .”