Stephen J. Cannell, '64

Stephen J. Cannell knows that for a guy who “couldn’t spell no matter how hard I tried,” choosing a writing career was probably a bit risky. He also knows that while his dyslexia, which went undiagnosed until his mid-thirties, caused him great difficulty, he responded well to the encouragement of UO English Professor Ralph Salisbury. And ultimately, it was Cannell’s drive and vivid imagination that propelled him to fight back and succeed.

Working around, over and through what he calls “jumbled input,” the three-time Emmy award-winning writer/producer, bestselling author and chairman of Cannell Studios has spent 35 years writing. Cannell has created or co-created more than 38 shows, including The Rockford Files, The A-Team, 21 Jump Street, The Commish and Wiseguy.

In 1995, Cannell’s debut novel, The Plan, became a national bestseller. He followed that book’s success with more bestsellers: Final Victim, Riding the Snake, The Devil’s Workshop and King Con. Cannell’s sixth novel, The Tin Collectors, came out in January 2001.

In 1979, Cannell formed his own production company, Stephen J. Cannell Productions. Seven years later, he formed The Cannell Studios, which excelled in production (films, miniseries, commercials), merchandising and first-run/off-network programming. It was purchased by New World Communications Group in 1995. Currently, Cannell has a variety of television and film projects lined up and other films in development with Fox 2000, Disney, CBS and Paramount Television.

Cannell was the recipient of the Mystery Writer’s Award in 1975 and the Monte Carlo Television Markets Showman of the Year Award in 2001.

Ralph Salisbury, poet, fiction writer and professor emeritus from UO English Department says, “As a TV writer and producer and as an author of well-informed anticrime novels, Steve Cannell has realized the talent I first saw in a University of Oregon undergraduate writing class. He has struggled and prevailed against dyslexia. He deserves our admiration.”

Harris Ellsworth, ’22

Harris Ellsworth once said that he had three separate lives involving jobs for which he had no experience. This means Ellsworth accomplished three times as much as most people do in a single lifetime.

In 1929, while manager of the Oregon Newspaper Association, Ellsworth purchased a quarter interest in the Roseburg News Review and in March of 1929 became its editor and publisher. Ellsworth proved instrumental in bringing the Veteran’s Administration hospital to Roseburg. The government money allotted for labor to build the hospital helped sustain the area until the timber industry took hold. In 1936, Ellsworth started KRNR radio in Roseburg, one of the first stations outside of the Portland market.

Ellsworth’s next career took him to Washington, D.C., as the first Congressman for the newly formed fourth district. From 1942 to 1956 he served as a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Rules committee.

Ellsworth was most proud of his acquisition of more money for counties from timber harvested on former railroad right-of-way properties. He championed smaller local projects, supporting the construction of a small port at the mouth of the Rogue River, increasing the depth of the Coos Bay Harbor and the extension of Bonneville Power lines to the coast.

Near the end of his tenure, Ellsworth served as chairman of the U.S. Civil Service Commission and as President Eisenhower’s adviser on personnel management. Ellsworth met with the president’s cabinet, an honor the self-described “country boy from Roseburg” appreciated.

When his Congressional career ended, Ellsworth earned his real estate broker’s license, selling 33 properties with a total value of over $2 million, including one third of Oregon’s small papers, in ten years. After retirement, Ellsworth resided in Albuquerque, N.M., until his death in 1986.

Mark O. Hatfield, retired U.S. Senator and former governor of Oregon, remembers, “Harris Ellsworth was a man of highest integrity, both personally and publicly. He was noted as being one of the hardest working members of the Oregon delegation. He maintained excellent relationships with constituents and was held in the highest respect by colleagues.”

Mike Fancher, ’68

Mike Fancher has a vision—newspaper journalism committed to the public good, representative of diverse voices and responsive to readers’ needs. The executive editor of The Seattle Times has bridged the distance between his vision and his reality with a fierce commitment to independent local ownership of newspapers and those newspapers’ responsibility as a public trust.

As the newsroom’s “Zen Master” of journalistic integrity, he pushes his reporters to take their responsibility as the public’s watchdog seriously, asking them to pursue stories based on news judgment rather than economic concerns. Fancher credits the success of his newsroom, including the five Pulitzer Prizes earned under his leadership, to a belief in quality and ethics that was firmly established in his years at the UO, where he served as editor of the Oregon Daily Emerald. Fancher continues to write a weekly editorial for Inside the Times, explaining and exploring the paper’s process.
Fancher joined The Times in 1978 as a reporter and served as assistant city editor, night city editor and assistant managing editor of news prior to becoming managing editor in 1981. He became executive editor in 1986.

In 1986, the National Press Photographers Association selected Fancher to receive the Editor of the Year Award. Fancher also received the Publisher’s Circle Award for Executive of the Year in 1991 and 1997.

In addition to his bachelor’s degree from UO, Fancher holds a master’s in communication from Kansas State University and a master’s of business administration from the University of Washington. He has served as a member of the board of the Associated Press Managing Editors and is a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Society of Professional Journalists. He has twice served as a judge for the Pulitzer Prize. Fancher also serves on the Advancement Council for the J-school.
Caesar Andrews, president of the Associated Press & Managing Editors notes, “Mike has a tremendous reputation. When you hear his name, it’s connected with quality journalism. He’s a thoughtful and impressive voice in this industry.”

Roy Paul Nelson, ’47, MS ’55

Colleagues and students alike would probably argue with Roy Paul Nelson’s description of himself as a “junk man.” They would describe his wide-ranging expertise as absolutely invaluable to a journalism department that had just more than a dozen faculty members when he joined.

For 25 years, Nelson wrote a monthly column on design for Communication World magazine. He became one of the nation’s leading authorities on design, layout and magazines. Among his more than 20 books is The Design of Advertising and Publication Design, used in classrooms around the world. Since his retirement in 1986, Nelson has produced new editions of two of his books and remains a prominent force in layout and design.

Nelson entered the UO in 1941 as a freshman, but his education was delayed when he was drafted to the U.S. Naval Reserve. After returning to finish his bachelor’s degree in 1947, he worked as an advertising copywriter, a reporter for United Press and the assistant editorial director and district manager for American Forest Products Industries. He returned to the SOJC to complete a master’s degree in 1955, also serving as an instructor. A freelance cartoonist, he taught the course Caricature and Graphic Humor to journalism students. His cartoons appeared in papers throughout the country.

He modestly claimed that it was his ability to handle different subjects that led to his appointment as an assistant professor in 1957. Colleagues such as Charles Duncan, former dean of the School, would argue that his most valuable asset was not simply his mastery of journalism but his ability to communicate it.

Everette E. Dennis, ’64, and former dean, says, “Roy Paul Nelson is a multi-talented, omnicompetent person who was an inspirational teacher, a masterful writer and scholar who never lost touch with ordinary people, probably because of his penchant for cartooning. I first met him when I was a high school student, and his interest and support has been a sustaining influence for decades now.”

Alyce Sheetz, ’63

As one of her former students recently noted, if journalism is a calling, then many fine journalists working today first heard the call from Alyce Sheetz. She was not simply a teacher but a beloved adviser, mentor, counselor and booster.

Perhaps Sheetz motivated so many young people because rather than seeing high school journalism classes as “toys,” she embraced their potential as a place to develop practical skills. Or perhaps it was because she was uniquely capable of getting students to share her belief that journalism is a “tremendously exciting field.”

Whatever the reason, Sheetz along with her students soared. Her commitment to journalism excellence was recognized in South Eugene High School’s student news paper The Axe, which earned nine All-American and Medalist ratings and a high school Pacemaker Award, given to the nation’s best high school newspapers.

Sheetz earned national awards including the Golden Key Award from Columbia University, the Pioneer Award from the National Scholastic Press Association, the Medal of Merit from the Journalism Education Association and the Carl Towley Award for outstanding achievement in scholastic journalism.

But Sheetz’ greatest legacy is the students she helped guide. Steve Smith, editor of The [Spokane] Spokesman Review says he owes his career to the woman students called “Sheetzie” According to Smith, in every class Sheetz taught ethical, professional journalism and a commitment to craft.

When Sheetz left South Eugene High in 1969, she continued her efforts on behalf of journalism and journalism students as an assistant professor in the SOJC, as the editor of Old Oregon and as the director of the Oregon Scholastic Press sponsored by the University of Oregon.

Her students went on to apply the lessons she provided in a variety of fields.

Robert Hulteng, a partner in a San Francisco law firm, says of the teacher he had from 1967 to 1969, “Throughout 17 years of education at various levels, I know that I never had a better, tougher, fairer or more giving teacher than Alyce Sheetz.”

Steve Neal, ’71

Some journalists keep their finger on the pulse of a place; few keep its heart beating. Steve Neal does both. Neal’s career as a political reporter and columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times has distinguished him as a true activist in his community.

Early on, Neal demonstrated a fascination with politics and a desire to improve his surroundings. At the University of Oregon, he served as ASUO’s senior class president and chair of its higher education committee. He was a member of the Friars Honorarium, Druids and Theta Chi Fraternity, which in 1971 chose him for the national Colley Award—the equivalent of “undergraduate of the year.” He completed his master’s at Columbia University in 1972.

He began his reporting career at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Chicago Tribune before moving to the Sun-Times. One of few journalists to interview Ronald Reagan in four different decades, his coverage of the Reagan shooting earned him a nomination from the Tribune for the Merriman Smith Award and recognition as a top White House Correspondent by the Washington Journalism Review in 1982.

A three-time nominee for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary, Neal has affected Chicago’s mayoral election process, garnered support for the renaming of the Illinois State Library for the late poet Gwendolyn Brooks, advocated for funding to save the home of late Illinois Governor Adlai E. Stevenson and deterred the efforts of the governor of Illinois to make a political dumping ground out of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

Described as a “consummate American Political Historian” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Neal is the editor of four books and the author of six, including Harry and Ike: The Partnership that Remade the Postwar World. Released in 2001, the book has been heralded by prominent biographers and journalists as well as critics.

Neal’s first collection of columns, Rolling on the River: The Best of Steve Neal (1999), earned Neal the title of “Renaissance man of political columnists” among his peers. What‘s inscribed on the book’s jacket could describe his entire career—“Tough but fair. Illuminating. Compassionate. That’s the best of Steve Neal.”

Patricia O’Brien, ’66

Patricia O’Brien has turned the adage “write about what you know” into a successful career, whether writing about political intrigue or women’s friendships.

O’Brien was 30, married and the mother of four children when she finished her undergraduate degree in 1966. She began her journalism career as an obit writer at the South Bend Tribune. In 1970, she began working for the Chicago Sun-Times, first as a reporter, then as a columnist and editorial writer. She describes 1973 as a “watershed year”—she divorced, published her first book and was awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University.

At Harvard, O’Brien met Ellen Goodman, also a single mother; their enduring friendship provides the backbone for their bestselling collaboration I Know Just What You Mean: The Power of Friendship in Women’s Lives. The Boston Sunday Globe stated: “When historians ask what it was like for women and their friends in a time that often seemed everything was changing, this will be the book that provides the texture of life as real people lived it.”

Her other works of nonfiction hold that same resonance. Her first book, The Woman Alone, remained in print for 13 years. It was followed by Staying Together: Marriages that Work in 1976.

As a journalist, O’Brien covered the Reagan administration, Congress and the 1984 political campaigns of Gary Hart and Geraldine Ferraro. She served as press secretary for Governor Michael Dukakis during the first half of his presidential campaign. O’Brien gained insight into what would fuel the content of her bestselling novels: The Candidate’s Wife and The Ladies’ Lunch. Her third novel, Good Intentions, was described by The New York Times Book Review as “The perfect plot for a summer beach read.”

A frequent contributor to many national magazines, she has written about Geraldine Ferraro, former White House press secretary Dee Dee Meyers and Hillary Clinton, among others. In 1988, she was awarded a Freedom Forum Fellowship at Columbia University. Her latest book, The Glory Cloak, a novel set in the Civil War, is slated for publication in May 2004 by Touchstone Books, a division of Simon and Schuster.

Warren C. Price

“He was Warren C. Price, One of a Kind.” Those were the words the Register-Guard used to describe Price upon his untimely death in 1967 at the age of 58.

Bright and intense, Price earned a reputation for his impeccable standards, strong opinions, his gruff-but-kind disposition—and his passion. Whether teaching or editing, spending time with his family, or listening to a Milwaukee Braves’ ball game, Price gave each pastime equal play. His addiction to train travel was widely known. He memorized scheduled stops and departures in every city.

Price, who earned his BA and MA at the University of Wisconsin, joined the School of Journalism faculty in 1942. During the summers, he sharpened his professional skills working at the copy desks throughout the United States. During the school year, Price “kept his hand in” the newspaper industry, serving as editor of the Sunday Register-Guard for 15 years.

His doctoral work was sidetracked when his hobby of annotating bibliographies of journalism books culminated in The Literature of Journalism: An Annotated Bibliography. The work won the Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award for Research in Journalism in 1959 and the Kappa Tau Alpha Research Award in 1960.

Price joined the Association for Education in Journalism in 1937 and was the editor of Journalism Quarterly. He started the Kappa Tau Alpha chapter at Oregon and in 1966 was elected KTA’s national president for a two-year term. He twice served as acting dean of the School. Ultimately, he finished his doctorate, submitting The Eugene Register-Guard: A Citizen of Its Community, as his dissertation. His degree was awarded posthumously in 1967.

Former students remember Price as “the best teacher they’d ever had.” He expected nothing but the best from his students and colleagues. That’s what he gave them. At his funeral, former dean John Hulteng noted that “for nearly half the life of our School of Journalism, Price gave the institution much of its vitality. That is the measure of our loss.”

Charles Royer, ’66

Former Oregon Governor Tom McCall once told Charles Royer—who as a reporter for KOIN in Portland covered McCall’s gubernatorial campaign—that he thought it was a good thing that reporters were willing to run for public office. McCall’s reasoning: “If they’ve been good reporters, they’ve had a graduate education in public policy. They are mostly idealistic people. And they have a good sense of smell.” McCall’s words were prophetic. Royer’s career—encompassing journalism, politics and education—has been distinguished by a vision for the longterm quality of life in urban areas nationwide.

A Medford native, Royer worked as a reporter for KVAL-TV and KEZI-TV in Eugene while attending the University. After graduation, he reported first at KOIN and then at KING in Seattle, where he shared a beat with his brother, Bob. In 1969, he received an award from the American Political Science Association for distinguished public affairs reporting. He was awarded a fellowship to study government and public policy at the Washington, D.C., Journalism Center. He was also a visiting associate at the Harvard-MIT Joint Center for Urban Studies from 1969 to 1970. In 1977, he traded journalism for politics, defeating 13 other candidates to become the mayor of Seattle.

Royer served three four-year terms—longer than any other mayor in the city’s history—guiding it through the tough times of the early ’80s and the business and population booms in the latter part of the decade. He oversaw a number of improvements in the city, including a recycling program that is recognized as the best in the nation. In 1989, Business Month named Seattle as one of the bestmanaged cities in the nation, and the national Urban Coalition named Royer the Distinguished Urban Mayor of the Year.

In 1990, Royer left Seattle for Cambridge, Mass., to direct the prestigious Institute of Politics at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, creating recognition that, as The Seattle Times commented, “not all political savvy emanates from the East Coast.”
Today, Royer is the national program director of the Urban Health Initiative, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.