John Russial: Outstanding in the classroom. Photo: Mark Blaine

It was no surprise to anyone—except maybe John Russial himself—that he was named the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s Distinguished Educator of the Year in the Newspaper Division for 2002-03.

“He definitely deserves it,” says Jessica Blanchard, ’03, now desk editor, news-features, for the Seattle Times.

“He’s had a profound influence on generations of young journalists, myself included. I know I wouldn’t be where I am now without John’s guidance.”

Blanchard, who worked closely with Russial, both as his student and through his involvement with the board of directors for the Oregon Daily Emerald, adds: “He knows when to push and when to praise students, and the individual attention he gives ensures that everyone who takes his classes leaves with a better understanding not just of copy editing but with the entire newspaper process.”

Dean Tim Gleason agrees, describing Russial as “a great teacher, a champion of students, a quiet voice of reason and rigor on our faculty, a tireless worker, an advocate for newspaper journalism and a very good copy editor.”

“He has made copy editing a major strength in our program and helped launch the careers of students now on copy desks at papers across the United States.“

Michael Kleckner, ’03, says he uses the lessons learned in Russial’s classroom every day as a copy editor at the Oregonian. Describing Russial’s “casual, almost conspiratorial teaching mannerisms,” he says, “it was as though we were all in this thing together, calmly figuring stuff out without a lot of pressure or authoritarian dictates.”

“Without saying or doing that much, John really got across the point that this journalistic venture isn’t about one reporter telling one story, nor is it about one photographer or one copy editor telling one story. To do our jobs well, it has to be the newspaper telling a story, and that can’t happen without conspiring together and trusting each other’s input and experience. And I saw that daily in class with John.”

In the classroom, Russial teaches editing, writing, new media and quantitative methods as well as leading workshops at newspapers throughout the Northwest. For eight years, he was also responsible for the J-school’s Summer Journalism Workshop for Minority High School Students, which brings students from Oregon high schools to campus each summer for a week of hands-on newspaper production and an opportunity to meet with journalism professionals and faculty in a campus setting.

Russial’s first copy editing textbook, Strategic Copy Editing, was published by Guilford in November.

“It goes without saying that his skills on the mechanics are amazing. I learned more about headline writing and line editing from John than I could have imagined,” Kleckner says.

Recreating a newsroom experience is what Russial enjoys most about the classroom. “I especially like the Advanced Editing class because I can recreate newsroom conditions. I can put together an exercise that mimics what editors at small and midsize papers would be doing the same day—making decisions on what stories to use, how to play those stories, editing those stories, writing headlines and designing pages—all on deadline,” he says. “That gives them a pretty good taste of what life is like on the desk. There’s a lot of discussion and a lot of working together. One of the key lessons, I think, is that editors have to learn how to work with people, not just words and Quark Xpress.”

Russial was Sunday copy chief at the Philadelphia Inquirer for twelve years while finishing his Ph.D. at Temple University. He joined the J-school faculty in 1992. Prior to that he was a reporter, editor and computer systems manager at the Bethlehem (Pa.) GlobeTimes. While at Temple, he decided to pursue an academic career.

“I realized that copy editors and copy chiefs do a lot of one-on-one teaching in the newsroom, and I thought I’d like to do more of that. In some ways, teaching is very similar to what I did on the desk; in others, it’s quite a bit different. I’m still trying to help writers improve their writing and helping editors improve their editing. Translating from oneonone to a classroom setting was, and still is, a challenge. Plus, I like being around universities, I like doing research, and I decided that after I finished the degree, I’d start looking for university jobs.”

Russial, who says he can’t imagine doing anything other than teaching—except maybe fly-fishing—was “honored” and “sort of humbled” to receive the award. “There are a lot of very good news-ed professors out there. I meet them at conferences and learn tips and tricks from them. There are quite a few teachers across the nation who deserve recognition.”