Journalism professor named among the top 10 in the nation by forum
Although he had another appointment scheduled, the hesitant, yet insistent tap at his door caused Mike Sweeney, a journalismprofessor at Utah State University, to look up.
This student needed some advice about getting into sports broadcasting. While Sweeney is a print advisor, he took the time to walk the young man down to the department office and found him an internship offer.
This behavior is typical of Sweeney, and is the kind of thing that helped him win a place as one of the top-10 journalism teachers in the country, said Ted Pease, department head.
Ann Bluemlein Herron, who works for the department and for the Logan Herald Journal, said in the award application, “When you knock on his door, it is a rare time that he won’t spin around and invite you to have a seat. The sheer amount of time he spends with students amazes me.
“I work at the local newspaper, where most of the news team has come from the USU program. The remark is often made when referring to a story of which the reporter has gone the extra mile, ‘Well, Sweeney’s going to read this!’ He inspires us to do our best, and make the next story even better,” Herron said.
“I feel this ‘awe shucks’ reaction,” Sweeney said about the award.
“Mike Sweeney is the perfect faculty member. His students actually love him, and his colleagues love him, too. If I need anything done, Mike does it.” Pease said.
Pease nominated Sweeney for the award given by the Freedom Forum, the largest foundation in the world dedicated to journalism and press freedom issues.
Pease said he loves promoting people.
“It makes my job real easy to have good people to promote,” he said.
The awards were presented at the conference for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 4. Although he was attending the conference, Sweeney didn’t attend the awards banquet where his name was called. He was in a workshop on news writing.
Cash awards of $10,000 were given to the top three, and the rest got “a hearty hand clasp and an ‘atta boy,'” Sweeney said.
“Would I have liked to get the money, hell yes,” Sweeney said. “But these people [the top three] deserve it. Some day I’ll get it.”
Pease said Sweeney is the first from the department to receive such an award. The application for the award had letters of appreciation from 14 current and former students.
The students wouldn’t have written what they did if they didn’t mean it, he said.
“The best part of teaching is having an influence on lives that goes beyond the classroom,” Sweeney said.
Sweeney has been teaching at USU since 1996. Prior to this, he worked in the newspaper business since 1980.
He said he first became interested in teaching while volunteering to teach a class for senior citizens. He got his masters while working full time, and his doctorate in 1996 from the Scripps School of Journalism.
“Simply put, Mike Sweeney, a veteran newspaperman who swapped the newsroom for the classroom, is the ‘go-to’ guy for his students, fellow faculty and press professionals,” Pease said.
Sweeney said he wanted to switch because the irregular hours of working for a newspaper didn’t leave him much time to spend with his family.
“I always tell my students to pick a job where you’re just really excited to get out of bed in the morning,” Sweeney said.
In the application, Pease said, “I consider him the best hire I have ever had the good fortune to make.”