Eric Allen: The First Dean
The dedication page of the 1916 Oregana reads:
To Professor Eric W. Allen Eric W. Allen was the first Dean of the School of Journalism and held that post from 1916 to his death in 1944: the longest tenure of any dean since then. Born in Appleton, Wisconsin, on April 4, 1879, Eric W . Allen graduated with a degree in philosophy in 1901 from the University of Wisconsin, where he was the campus correspondent for the Milwaukee Sentinel.
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After graduation, Allen worked in a wide variety of occupations, including reporting jobs for several newspapers. While working for the Seattle Post Intelligencer, he caught the eye of University of Oregon President P.L. Campbell who drafted him in 1912 to head up the infant journalism program.
In the four years following Allen's acceptance of a position as the head of the infant journalism department at Oregon, he became a leading and respected figure on the campus and in the community. He brought with him a keen sense of the realities of both journalism and the publishing business and by the end of his first year at Oregon had already set the direction the soon-to-be School would follow for years to come. He wrote in the Portland Chamber of Commerce Bulletin in May of 1913:
In the four years following Allen's acceptance of a position as the head of the infant journalism department at Oregon, he became a leading and respected figure on the campus and in the community. He brought with him a keen sense of the realities of both journalism and the publishing business and by the end of his first year at Oregon had already set the direction the soon-to-be School would follow for years to come. He wrote in the Portland Chamber of Commerce Bulletin in May of 1913:
We will drill them [the new journalism students] hard in accuracy, terseness, fairmindedness, and ability to understand and sympathize with all classes of the community. Then we will throw them in and see if they can swim.
What began as a single course offering in journalism in 1901 had by 1916 developed into a full-fledged program with five courses, all taught by Allen and two part-time instructors. That was the year that the Board of Regents of the University of Oregon raised the fledgling program to the status of a School of Journalism with Eric Allen as the new dean.
A known perfectionist, Allen expected a great deal from his students. And they responded. For a number of years, students from the school would work for a week at a time "getting out" various Oregon Newspapers -- a practice begun in 1916 when 100 students published the Eugene Guard for a week under a practicum set up by Allen. Under his guidance, the School of Journalism grew steadily in enrollment and course offerings.
Allen's strong liberal arts background (he had a degree in philosophy) led him to establish rigorous educational requirements for the growing journalism program. By the 1930s, students in journalism were required to take more than 60 percent of their coursework outside their major. Among the changes to the curriculum established by Allen was a new graduate program, established in 1930 -- the first such program in journalism in the Northwest. Continue to Part 2. |