This is the second in a series of teaching columns by 2021–2022 History Division teaching committee chair Ken Ward.

I can be a little medium-centric in my teaching. In my last column, I explained one way that’s true—in my deemphasizing the textbook in my history course to focus on things like podcasts. It’s something I’ve had success with, but this focus on the medium definitely doesn’t suit everyone.

Elisabeth Fondren, for instance.

“I’ve always focused more on the content than the platform,” she told me recently during a conversation about teaching, “so I’m not one of the professors to switch and say ‘here’s a podcast, here’s a video.’”

Clearly she’s not as hung up on content delivery as I am. But Dr. Fondren, who is an assistant professor of journalism at St. John’s University in Queens, is absolutely finding her own novel ways to connect with the current generation of students in her journalism history course. While the textbook may be safe in her classroom, another mainstay of history courses has gotten her attention: long written assignments.

For Elisabeth, it’s a matter of being in touch with what’s useful to students and making sure they’re staying energized in the learning process, not just in terms of providing relevant information but also engaging projects. It’s too easy, she told me, to lose students in the transition from learning to application, especially when today’s students have so many extracurricular responsibilities, often including jobs.

“The demand on students is so high,” she said, “and it’s the professor’s responsibility to gauge and maybe event adapt your method of delivery and assessment. It’s not a one-way street.”

Deprioritizing written assignments like long research papers doesn’t mean lowering standards. Instead, it’s a matter of finding other ways to assess what Elisabeth is really after: deep, personal engagement with course concepts and critical thinking.

Sometimes this means asking students to craft video reflections and take place in online discussions. At others, it means learning to be critical and persuasive in a medium other than a term paper. For example, in one assignment Elisabeth’s students interrogate a primary source like a documentary and then tweet about it, structuring the assignment such that students learn to build a coherent argument in only 280 characters.

Crucially, behind these assignments is Elisabeth’s drive to make history relatable to students, to use the course to bridge things that happened “back then” to what we’re experiencing today.

Nowhere is this clearer than in an oral history assignment she assigns. In it, students find and interview someone at least two generations older than them about how they’ve used media throughout their lives and how those interactions have informed their worldview. In assignments such as these, she encourages people to research within their own families to uncover ways of relating to course concepts in deeply personal ways.

Because her students come from such diverse backgrounds and share in class what they find in assignments like these, the classroom becomes a place of both learning and sharing.

“I really try to focus on how the class can be as insightful as possible for the students,” she told me. And if that insight can be harnessed through something that students find more engaging than a long written assignment, perhaps it’s worth helping students connect with history by deemphasizing the role of the paper in assessing learning.

Mike Sweeney — a professor emeritus at Ohio University, a role model in the field of journalism history, the editor of Journalism History from 2012-2018, and division chair from 2016-2017 — died on January 15, 2022 at the age of 63. AEJMC History Division Members share their remembrances.

I send my thoughts and prayers for all who had the privilege to know Mike Sweeney and now mourn his passing from this life. Eternity just gained the brightest star! I lived in Logan at worked at USU during the Sweeney era. I am so thankful for my friendships with Carolyn and David and Angie as well. May our Good Lord bless and comfort all. I know his words and wisdom will live on forever. – Margaret Lubke

I first met Mike in 1993 when he moved to attend Ohio U. for his Ph.D. I was just completing my time at OU and Pat Washburn was my advisor. I helped Mike move into his apartment. Partly because he needed the help, and because I needed his boxes so I could pack to move to Texas which is where he just came from. Ever the reporter, Mike was grilling me about working with Pat Washburn. (BTW – working with Pat was a delight and a highlight of my academic career). That began a longtime friendship. Years later, Mike moved to Utah State, and a few years after that I moved from Texas to BYU. Whenever I taught the graduate history class, I would invite Mike to campus to be a part of the class. He loved engaging with grad students wherever they were. – Ed Adams

Michael Sweeney didn’t know how to conduct a dull meeting. In fact, he worked to make them both short and fun. I served on the AJHA board when he was president. In the past, board members were unable to attend the academic discussions because of all the business meetings. He figured how to put the business in context. When an issue came up during an annual conference, he’d contact each person to determine whether we needed a meeting and, when possible, take an informal vote without gathering in person. The meetings he conducted were serious, but he led with a light touch and a delightful sense of humor. He wasted no time. Like his students, we colleagues loved him. In his eulogy to Vice President Hubert Humphrey, former Vice President Walter Mondale said Humphrey taught us how to live and, with his cancer, he taught us how to die. I’ve thought about that comment so many times over the past several years as Michael Sweeney taught us how to live and how to die. He was always an inspirational role model. After his diagnosis, though, he continued teaching, attending academic meetings, publishing research, posting original paintings and sharing his medical progress on Facebook. RIP, Professor Sweeney. – Bill Huntzicker

Mike Sweeney, otherwise affectionately known as Sween Dog by the Ohio University graduate students, was the best educator, scholar, historian, and mentor. I was truly blessed to spend my years at Ohio University learning from him. His dedication to helping students and guiding those interested in historical research was unparalleled. He truly loved us grad students, and we loved him. In his classes, he taught us so much about life and the crazy world of academia. In my first year as a graduate student at Ohio University, he called me a badger concerning my research efforts in his Historiography class. It was the funniest interaction, considering he mentioned he has never told a female her research style resembled an animal. I will forever hold that nickname with pride. The fall semester of 2018 was thought to be his last time teaching Historiography, but as usual, he couldn’t stay away from teaching and returned the following fall. At that time, I struggled to find a final committee member for my master’s thesis. During a meeting with Aimee Edmondson, she told me that Sweeney was returning to teach and mentioned he wanted to be on my master’s thesis committee. The following phone call with my mother was filled with many tears and excitement on having the opportunity to learn from Sweeney again. The loss of Sweeney is so great, but he was such a warrior these past years, and man did he go out with a bang. – Claire Rounkles

There are people in this life, whom you meet and immediately feel they are a kindred spirit. Mike was certainly one of those people for me. Maybe it was the commonality of both having been newspaper people. Or that we both uprooted ourselves mid-career to return to graduate school. Our common love of teaching, journalism history, and a penchant for a good yarn certainly didn’t hurt. I remember the terrible trepidation I felt, during my first semester at Ohio University, when I sent him a draft of a conference paper I was working on as part of an independent study with him. The first thing I saw, in all caps, was “NICE ‘LEDE’ YOU WRITE WELL.” Those five simple words at the end of my first paragraph were such a reassurance that all the risks I had taken maybe weren’t all that risky after all. It was a balm to my reporter’s soul at a time when I was questioning whether I had made the right choice. This was part of Mike’s charm. He mentored you without you knowing it most of the time. He saw possibilities where self-doubt clouded one’s vision. And he was available. When you went to his office, he made you the center of his focus. Not the phone calls, or the emails, or the deadlines. Just you. – Pamela Walck

I was so surprised when I won the Tankard Award in 2013 in D.C. that I shouted, “Drinks are on me!” To my delight, Mike came to the hotel bar. It was such a validating moment to see Mike’s joy in celebrating my accomplishment. We shared dinner that night. I learned about Mike’s diagnosis, his mastery of Italian, and what a delightful raconteur he could be. That was my first real connection to Mike Sweeney—his eyes always reflected back to his audience the joy and appreciation of the moment and his true happiness for others’ success. – Tom Mascaro

Public Relations History:  Theory, Practice, and Profession (Routledge 2021)

Describe the focus of your book. 

The book examines the development of public relations in the United States, specifically looking at sectors of public relations practice.  Its focus is historiographic. I wanted to examine the different narratives of public relations and craft a new narrative of PR history that was more inclusive of non-corporate PR development.  I also examined the relationship between public relations and propaganda, and how the historical development of the public relations field was impacted by growing awareness of public opinion and the power of communication.  The end result showed that modern U.S. public relations is the byproduct of many different types of public relations practiced in politics, social movements, religion, corporations, higher education, and the government.

How did you come across this subject? Why did it interest you?

This subject is an outgrowth of several years of study on PR history.  My dissertation looked at public relations development, particularly early American PR practice in the late 19^th century.  As my research progressed, I became more interested in the development of PR as a practice and profession, and how diverse sectors, such as politics, entertainment, corporate communication, and social movements, actually impacted public relations practice that we know today.

What archives or research materials did you use? 

Much of my research examined early news accounts of public relations, as well as legal documents that examined public relations.  As a historiography, I also used many early histories written about public relations and public opinion.  I made good use of digital newspaper archives, and the interlibrary loan system for trade press and other early public relations publications.

How does your book relate to journalism history? How is it relevant to the present?

The history of public relations is intertwined with the development of the press.  As the press evolved in the 19^th century from the partisan press to the penny press and later to yellow journalism and muckrakers, the public relations field followed suit.  Like today, many early public relations practitioners were former journalists.  The book shows that PR history is journalism history, and that the two fields are highly interconnected in their development in the U.S. 

What advice do you have for other historians that are working on or starting book projects?

Book projects, like all big projects, need to be tailored.  Even when a book project is narrow in scope you invariably find out that the topic is much bigger than you originally thought.  So, in that sense, I would say choose your topic with an eye toward a clearly defined and manageable topic.  As far as writing, I think everyone has their own work habits that work for them.  My advice is to know what you can write in a day and what writing habits work best for you. Books are something that take time, sometimes years, to complete.  Set deadlines, follow them, and soon enough you’ll be finished.