|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
||
 |
||
James
H. Shumaker Professors |
||
JAMES HAMPTON SHUMAKER
October 7, 1923 - December 19, 2000
James H. Shumaker was born Oct. 7, 1923, in Winston-Salem but grew up in Durham, N.C. (1925-1942), where he attended public schools. He served in the U.S. Air Corps and Air Force in 1942-45 and had combat service with the 15th Force in Italy during World War II.After World War II, he attended UNC-Chapel Hill but left in 1948 without his degree because of a disagreement about a freshman course in hygiene. That was worked out decades later, and he received his degree in journalism in 1972. He attended Columbia University for two semesters in 1949 but earned no degree.
A long-time newspaperman, he worked full-time as a city hall reporter at the Durham (N.C.) Morning Herald in 1947-48 while a student at UNC-CH. He joined the Associated Press in 1950 and was the legislative reporter in Columbia, S.C. He also worked with the AP in Charlotte, N.C., where he was night editor in what was then the strategic AP bureau for the Carolinas.
In 1952, Shumaker returned to the Durham Morning Herald where he was state editor for three years then managing editor. He moved to The Chapel Hill Weekly in 1959. He worked at the Weekly and its successor, The Chapel Hill Newspaper, as editor until 1974, except for a three-month period in 1966 when he was editor and publisher of the Boca Raton (Fla.) News.
He joined the faculty of the UNC-CH School of Journalism as a part-time lecturer in fall 1973. Two years later he became a full-time faculty member, but he left in August 1979 to become editorial page editor of the Wilmington Star News. He returned to full-time teaching at UNC-CH in fall 1980. He was named an associate professor in 1984 and became a full professor in 1994. For three years, he was the first James H. Shumaker Professor, a term professorship created in his name in the School.
While teaching, he served as an editorial page columnist for the Charlotte Observer for more than 20 years. He also was moderator for "N.C. News Conference," a weekly half-hour show on WUNC-TV, in 1973-76.
Among his professional awards, Shumaker was recognized with N.C. Press Association awards for spot news, feature and editorial writing. While he was managing editor of the Durham Morning Herald, the paper won an NCPA award for community service. He won two Golden Quill Awards for editorial writing.
He also won National Newspaper Association awards for editorials, and while he was editor, The Chapel Hill Weekly won NNA awards for general excellence, local news coverage, freedom of information, typography and other categories.
Shumaker was a member or officer of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, the N.C. AP News Council, United Press Council of N.C. Editors, International Association of Weekly Newspaper Editors and the N.C. Press Association.
As a teacher, he won the prestigious Tanner Award for teaching excellence in undergraduate courses plus a favorite faculty teaching award from graduating seniors. He was inducted into the N.C. Journalism Hall of Fame. He served as a resource person for the N.C. Scholastic Press Institute and was a speaker on editorial writing at a seminar for the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association.
Contact:
Jan Johnson Yopp, Associate Dean
UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Campus Box 3365
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3365
Phone: (919) 962-4083
Email: jyopp@email.unc.edu
