Ad/PR prof brings energy, enthusiasm

by Asher Fogle ‘07

A plastic Shaquille O’Neal, wearing an old-school purple LSU uniform, slam dunks on the handle of a black Office Depot hutch cabinet above her desk, a reminder of both her passion for college athletics and her years as a graduate student at Louisiana State University.

Today, however, assistant professor Stacy Landreth-Grau teaches in the Schieffer School, channeling her enthusiasm toward advertising/Public Relations students.

Landreth-Grau joined the Schieffer School faculty in August 2006. She has taught ad/PR research, media planning, and a graduate course called Advertising and the Consumer. Full Story

New Hall of Excellence honoree announced

by TCU Schieffer School of Journalism

A well-known book editor and biographer has been named the 2007 inductee into the TCU Schieffer School of Journalism’s Hall of Excellence.  Ellis Amburn, a 1954 TCU journalism graduate, will be inducted into the hall at the Journalism Exes Breakfast Sept. 22.

Amburn was editor for such authors as John le Carré, Belva Plain, Muriel Spark, Joshua Logan and Jack Kerouac.  He wrote Kerouac’s 1998 biography, Subterranean Kerouac:  The Hidden Life of Jack Kerouac.

He also the author of celebrity biographies of Janis Joplin, Warren Beatty, Elizabeth Taylor, Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison. He worked as a ghostwriter for Priscilla Presley, Shelley Winters, Peggy Lee and Zsa Zsa Gabor on their autobiographies.

Amburn worked as a reporter at Newsweek following his graduation from TCU.   He entered the book publishing industry to work for G.P. Putnam’s Sons, and has also worked at Delacorte Press, Coward McCann, and William Morrow. Full Story

by Tommy Thomason
Director, Schieffer School of Journalism

Normally, we induct Hall of Excellence honorees at the Exes Breakfast before an audience of appreciative alumni numbering around 100.

But there just wasn’t time.  This induction couldn’t wait.

Linda Kaye lay dying of cancer in a hospice unit in Southwest Fort Worth, and she needed to know that the Schieffer School was honoring her as one of our most outstanding alumni in photojournalism.

So instead of inducting her at a public meeting, Phil Record and I inducted Linda into the Hall of Excellence in her hospice room.  The little room was full of family and friends – Hospital workers said that was typical of those last days – and Linda wore a purple shirt and was covered in a TCU quilt. Full Story

Mark Horvit named the new director of Investigative Reporters and Editors

Mark Horvit, part-time instructor in computer assisted reporting in the Schieffer School, has been named the new director of Investigative Reporters and Editors in Columbia, Mo.

IRE, the neation's leading organization to promote investigative reporting, is housed at the University of Missouri.  Horvit is leaving his position as projects editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  His wife Beverly is head of the news-editorial sequence of the Schieffer School.

Mark has been a reporter for newspapers in Texas, Florida, Missouri and the Carolinas since graduating from the University of Texas at Austin.

His winding career path has included stops at the Charlotte Observer, the Houston Post and the Corpus Christi Caller Times, and he has covered everything from tourism and healthcare to city hall and politics.

Looking Back

With this edition, Newsworthy initiates a new feature.  Looking back will use the photo archives of Jack White ’49 to help alumni remember some of their days in TCU journalism.

But maybe you have photos of your own, taken in journalism-related activities. If so, send them to us electronically, along with identifications and a word about what was going on. We’ll run as many as we can. Send them to newsworthy@tcu.edu.