Charles Apple

Ron Johnson — a fixture at Kansas State University for more than a decade-and-a-half, is moving to the Indiana University.

Kaitlin Shawgo of the Indiana Daily Student newspaper reported Friday that Ron will begin his new duties July 1, overseeing the newspaper, the yearbook, Arbutus, and INside magazine.

Ron writes:

It is bittersweet, though, replacing the late Dave Adams, my college professor back at Fort Hays State. Ironically, this will be the third time I’ve taken a job he once had, following him four years after he left Fort Hays and as he left K-State.

Adams died nearly a year ago.

Ron writes:

I’m very excited about it. IU has a great student-media program, with great people and a vibrant, growing journalism school.

And Kaitlin writes, in her story:

Johnson said he looks forward to meeting with students to share his goals and to hear theirs.

“I’m a firm believer that we help the students with their vision… (and) to help that along through planning, coaching and critiquing,” he said.

Ron served as adviser to the Kansas State Collegian daily paper for 15 years until the university removed him from that position in 2004 in a move that was highly politicized and controversial (read a nice summary at the First Amendment Center).

The action met with scorn and censure from journalists nationwide. It was a raw deal, and no one was happy about it. Especially the student journalists who had learned so much from Ron. Let’s face it, Ron’s a super guy, a talented teacher and mentor and he’s about as well-connected as one can be. What more could any school want from a journalism professor?

So Ron was yanked away from the Collegian. But he remained as a professor. He also directed the company that published the university’s yearbook and phone book. He’s a past president of the Kansas Associated Collegiate Press and the national College Media Advisers association.

Ron hard at work at his desk in 2003.
Photo by Poynter’s Sara Quinn.
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Ron has edited SND’s Best of Newspaper of Design books six times., earning a presidential citation for last year’s humongous 28th edition. Earlier this year, the Kansas Press Association honored him as a long-time mentor to Kansas journalists.

Read the Indiana Daily Student story here.

Congratulations to Ron.

But more importantly, congratulations to the fine students at Indiana University. I hope you guys realize how damn lucky you are.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 10th, 2008 at 3:53 pm and is filed under College journalism, Job changes, Magazine design, News design, Newspapers, VizEds Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.