A ‘journalism God with a capital G’
Wednesday, 11.30 a.m.: Journalism professor Michael Sweeney enters the department’s computer lab for his “Copy Editing and Design” class. But instead of starting class, he first goes around and hands out National Geographic pencils to everyone.
Why? Because his students had asked him to bring them a souvenir from his trip to the Virginia Festival of the Book the previous weekend. After that, he still doesn’t start class – he hands out coupons for a double-size Aggie ice-cream cone to a handful of students who beat him in betting on the NCAA tournament.
“That’s the first time I’ve lost to my students,” Sweeney says. “I’ve done this for a couple of years now and last year my son beat me, but so far I’ve never lost to my students.”
A devoted Mozart admirer, journalist and copy editor, dedicated professor and researcher, workaholic, and basically, according to print journalism major Young Joon Lim, “a journalism God with a capital G,” Sweeney is obviously hard to put in a certain category.
Maybe that’s because “he’s an incredible workaholic who cannot stand to be sitting still without something to do,” fellow journalism professor Penny Byrne said.
“He’s constantly involved in many things and always looking for something different to do,” Byrne added.
It all started quite early in the mornings when Sweeney delivered the Washington Evening Star at age 14 to the student housing at the University of Maryland.
“I thought that journalism must be a really cool job because you had people writing about all sorts of interesting stories: the Apollo trips to the moon, Watergate, assassinations,” he said.
So, after his graduation from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Sweeney spent the next 14 years in the newspaper business – 12 of them at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas. At the Star-Telegram, he worked in pretty much every position a newspaper has: copy editor, copy desk chief, columnist, sports copy desk chief, reporter, entertainment editor, deputy features editor and weekend guide editor.
One of his most memorable experiences is when he almost lost his job over a story about something as trivial as mini-golf. He had reviewed mini-golf courses around Dallas and Fort Worth and given a supposedly upscale course a bad grade. After a complaint by the owner of the course, Sweeney’s boss asked him to write another article about it, this time praising it.
Sweeney refused and even threatened to quit.
“As I was driving home in my car that day, I was thinking, ‘I just put my career on the line over a matter of ethics involving a story about miniature golf. How am I gonna explain that to my wife?'” Sweeney remembers.
But his boss finally saw that it wasn’t worth making a fuss about a mini-golf course, so Sweeney stayed.
In the late ’80s he decided to broaden his career opportunities by getting a master’s degree. He earned just that in 1991 from the University of North-Texas.
“There was both a carrot and a stick that made me switch from daily journalism to teaching,” he said. “The stick was that one of my editors [at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram] insisted … that I take the night desk for the sports section which is high-pressured with strange hours. It’s basically 4 p.m. until 2 a.m.”
“The carrot” was how much he enjoyed his first teaching experiences as an adjunct professor at Tarrant County Junior College and at Texas Christian University while he was working on his master’s degree.
“So I decided I needed to make a career change and become a college professor because it really jazzes me, even more than journalism,” he said.
And the teaching that jazzes him also jazzes his students who profit heavily from his dedicated style of teaching which got him named one of the top 10 journalism teachers in the country in 2001.
“So far, I’ve only taken two of his classes and I’ve learned so much,” said Holly Anderson, a print journalism major. “You really don’t want to miss any of his classes because every single one is so valuable.”
Traci Fowler, a senior in public relations, said, “He really cares about his students and their future success. He’s always willing to help, and teaches with humor, enthusiasm and professionalism. I just can’t say enough good things about Dr. Sweeney.”
-mattpetry@cc.usu.edu
Journalism professor Michael Sweeney discusses the use of propaganda during a student presentation in his Honors 3030 class. (Photo by Ryan Talbot)