After over a decade as faculty advisor to The Picket, Jim Lewin is stepping down at the end of this semester.
Lewin has stated he is needed to teach more upper-division English classes. Adjunct communications professor Cecelia Mason will take over the role of faculty advisor for the newspaper.
Rather than write a traditional news story about Lewin’s service, The Picket reached out to faculty and former Picket editors for commentary.
“Jim Lewin is a dedicated newspaper guy. He is of a time when many of us read papers voraciously and gained much of our information and insight from them. The big stories in our formative years—the war in Vietnam, the Civil Rights Movement, Watergate—were revealed and covered by newspapers. Like most of us, Jim shares the desire that newspapers continue to serve those same purposes: to provide in-depth stories, to do the investigative work, to provide accurate and important information, and to be trusted as an accurate source of news and presented without bias or political position. Jim has devoted much of his professional career to The Picket, and the number of former students who gained a start in their career field through that experience says a great deal about his success and commitment. He has much for which he can be proud.”
—Dow Benedict, professor of art and dean of the school of arts and humanities
“Dr. Lewin has been the advisor for The Picket probably longer than any other faculty member. He certainly has brought it to a professional level that it had never attained before. He has mentored many student editors and writers, some of whom have become professional journalists. His legacy with The Picket will be felt for many years in the future.”
—Betty Ellzey, professor of English and chair of the department of English and modern languages.
“Dr. Lewin had four years to kill me and he never did, even when he had the right to. All those times when I was obstinate, naïve, or just unpleasant, he stuck through it like every single great mentor you read about in books and see in movies. Younger me needed Dr. Lewin and older me can finally appreciate everything he taught. ‘Pickets were soldiers who kept watch for danger.’ He taught me that. That’s what The Picket was made to do. And that’s what Dr. Lewin did for us.”
—Jeff Jarina, editor-in-chief 2010–2011
“I have absolutely nothing to do with news media in any form today, and yet I still have an active vision in my head of Dr. Lewin, leaning back in his chair, listening stoically to my thoughts. He is The Picket to me; he cajoles people into journalism in the best way.”
—Kaitlyn Baird May, managing editor 2010–2011
“Dr. Lewin was the kind of faculty advisor that you wanted to have. He was devoted to The Picket and was always there for advice; and unlike some advisors that ruled with a totalitarian attitude, he always let The Picket staff run the newspaper as they saw fit. He was the Ralph Waldo Emerson-esque sage of The Picket, always there for the push we needed when things got rough. The Picket has come a long way over the years, and much of its progress can be attributed to Dr. Lewin.”
—Alexander Severson, managing editor 2012
“Dr. Lewin was an excellent mentor and colleague. What made him great was the enthusiasm he had for The Picket and the students who worked there. When I was excited about a story, he was too. I’ll always remember having the distinct feeling that he got just as much out of The Picket as any of us.”
—Heather Greenfield, editor-in-chief 2012–2013
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think my college career would consist of learning about journalism from an old cabbie from Chicago. Dr. Lewin taught me how to be familiar with the unknown and drove The Picket to places I never thought it could be. Dr. Lewin was in tune with students in a way that I seldom witnessed and that allowed him to help bring the best out of everyone. I can easily say that The Picket won’t be the same without him.”
—George Weakley, editor-in-chief 2011–2012
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