University of Missouri School of Journalism
http://journalism.missouri.edu/news/2006/09-13-media-conflict.html
A Brief History of the Missouri School of Journalism
Welcome to Mizzou, as the University of Missouri is widely known, where Walter Williams started the world's first school of journalism in 1908.
Williams, first dean of the school, believed that journalism education should be professionalized and provided at a university. Toward that end, with the blessing of the University of Missouri and the state legislature, and with financial help from the Missouri Press Association, Williams started the school in September of that year.
Today, some of the best journalists in the world have learned their profession through the Missouri Method, which provides practical hands-on training in real-world news media and a strategic communication agency. Top editors, reporters and other executives say Missouri graduates are among the best prepared to work and contribute to the organization from their first day on the job.
We're proud of that success, which depends on much more than mere reputation. Each year, Missouri students win national contests - some even in competition with working professionals - that demonstrate conclusively just how much they have learned. Each year, our alumni win major national and international competitions, further illustrating the value of a Missouri journalism degree. Many have won Pulitzer Prizes, the news profession's highest honor, Silver Anvils, the top prize for public relations professionals, and similar awards. Indeed, our alumni can be found in newsrooms and corporate boardrooms of media companies and advertising and public relations agencies around the globe.
April 18, 1995
Lee Hills Hall Dedicated
Tina and Lee Hills listen while Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan speak at the dedication ceremony. [More]
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From the beginning, Williams envisioned a school of journalism that would positively influence the quality of journalism and advertising worldwide. Rural Boonville, Mo., where Williams began, was an unlikely epicenter for global change in journalism. But Williams was no ordinary newspaperman. At age 25, he became the youngest-ever president of the Missouri Press Association, which now is almost 160 years old. After founding the School of Journalism, he went on to become president of the University of Missouri.
Williams made certain that the lessons of Missouri Journalism reached worldwide by training journalists from China and bringing a World Press Congress to Missouri. He also wrote The Journalist's Creed, a statement of journalism and advertising professionalism cherished as the most important pronouncement of its kind. It adorns the walls of the National Press Club in Washington - in bronze.
But perhaps Williams' greatest achievement was his establishment of the school around an all-important principle: The best way to learn about journalism and advertising is to practice them.