by Tim Gleason

A recent study of the Oregon University System schools showing that UO graduates are last in starting salaries and an invitation to deliver the opening remarks at the J-School's annual career conference started me thinking about career choices.

The career path that took me first to photojournalism and reporting and then into university teaching and administration twists and turns like a two-lane road through a steep mountain pass.

Looking back, I can explain the decisions I made and even make it sound as if I knew where I was going. But the truth is I didn't have a clue. I became a journalist, a scholar and now an administrator because each presented me with the scope to be challenged, the good fortune to be paid to do work that is fun, rewarding and contributes to the public good, and the opportunity to feed my passions.

Our challenge is to continue to nurture the passions students bring to the J-School and to prepare them for success in an ever more competitive professional workplace. The challenge for the communication professions is to create work environments where new employees will thrive.

Some of the news coverage of the study cited the low starting salaries in journalism as one of several explanations for the UO's low ranking. This statistic will come as no surprise to readers of this column. There is no question that salaries, especially in small- to medium-size newspapers and radio and TV stations, are not competitive in the job market.

Yet, the J-School continues to attract high-quality students who share the passions that brought you and me to the communication professions. Several recent events reaffirmed my belief in the passion that our students bring to the School:

In early March, we interviewed the finalists for this summer's Charles R. Snowden Internships. The candidates met with Julie Snowden, Internship Coordinator Pam Cytrynbaum, Assistant Dean Jennifer King and me to talk about their goals for the future and their desire for careers in newspapering. Charlie Snowden, a former editor at the Oregon Journal and the Oregonian, had a great passion for journalism, history and good writing. We want to make sure that Snowden Interns share his passions and take them into the newsrooms of the future. Without exception, the students told us of the moment they realized their love of journalism, of the thrill of getting the story, of discovering the truth, of writing the good lead.

In February, the members of the School's Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), led by seniors Jennifer Casey and Alicia Kuna, organized this year's career conference. The very successful event, which was conceived by PRSSA six years ago, is now an important annual event for the School and a great event planning experience for public relations students.

Near the end of winter term, I sat in on one of the final presentations in Ann Maxwell's J448 Advertising Campaigns class. Gray's Garden Center was the client for the class. In ten weeks, the student teams had completed a market analysis, developed advertising plans and created plan books, sample print and radio ads, story boards for television ads and Power Point presentations. Gray's Garden Center plans to incorporate much of the winning team's campaign into its advertising plan.

These are just three examples of the passion and commitment of our students. Our challenge is to continue to nurture the passions these and other students bring to the J-School and to prepare students for success in an ever more competitive professional workplace. The challenge for the communication professions is to create work environments where new employees will thrive. More competitive starting salaries are one of the ways we can keep more of the best and the brightest students in journalism and the other communication professions.

As reported in this issue, the Willis S. Duniway Journalism Resource Center is open. The Center is possible because of a $400,000 gift from Dorothy Duniway of Honolulu, Hawaii, in memory of her husband, class of '32. The Center is a pivotal part of the Allen Hall renovation and quickly will become a central gathering place for student activity in Allen Hall.

While the Duniway Center is a "wired" facility with computer access to the Internet and other databases, we are not abandoning the newsprint, magazines and specialized resources now housed in the George S. Turnbull Reading Room. Those materials will be moved to the Duniway Center and a section of the Center will be known as the George S. Turnbull Reading Room in honor of the second dean of the School and a member of School's Hall of Achievement.

With the Center completed, the next phase of the renovation -- the new entrance and plaza and the dean's office -- is under way. We hope to break ground this summer.