Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame to Induct Five New Members April 12th

January 21, 2003

January 21, 2003, Greencastle, Ind. - The Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame will induct five new members during a ceremony on April 12. The Hall of Fame, created in 1966 by the Indiana professional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), is housed at DePauw University, where the national society was founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi. The Hall recognizes those with significant Indiana ties who have demonstrated they are journalists of the highest distinction.

Those being inducted this year are:

Theodore Dreiser, a well-known early 1900s novelist who grew up in Terre Haute and attended Indiana University. He began his writing career as a reporter for the Chicago Daily News and worked at newspapers in St. Louis and Pittsburgh before being hired by Joseph Pulitzer's New York World. He also was editor of the Ev'ry Month, a magazine of music and literature aimed at women, before his career as a novelist took off in 1900 with the publication of Sister Carrie.

Alan Horton, senior vice president of newspapers for the E.W. Scripps Company. Horton grew up in Indianapolis, graduating from North Central High School and Yale University. He was a reporter for newspapers in Cincinnati and Cleveland before joining Scripps' Washington bureau. Horton returned to Indiana in 1979, where he was editor of the Shelbyville News for five years and then managing editor of the Evansville Press for two years. During his time at Shelbyville, it won the Hoosier State Press Association's Blue Ribbon Award for best daily newspaper. He held other editing and management jobs with Scripps before being named in 1994 to his current position, where he oversees the company's 21 daily newspapers.

Arthur Levin, longtime journalism department chairman at Butler University in Indianapolis. Levin had been teaching journalism to college and high school students for 17 years when he joined Butler in 1973. During his 24 years heading the journalism department, it grew from 30 students and one professor to about 200 students and six faculty members. His students have gone across the country to work at newspapers, broadcast stations and television networks. He has continued teaching in the department since stepping down as chairman in 1997.

Scott C. Schurz, retired publisher and editor-in-chief of Indiana's Herald Times of Bloomington, the Times-Mail of Bedford, the Reporter-Times of Martinsville and two weekly publications. He has worked at the family owned Bloomington newspaper since 1966 and is currently publisher of its Sunday edition, the Hoosier Times. He is credited with helping encourage the highest principles of journalism, both at the newspapers he oversaw and through his work with national and international press organizations. He also has twice been president of the Hoosier State Press Association, which is made up of 170 daily and weekly newspapers across the state.

Harrison J. Ullmann, reporter, columnist and editor of NUVO newsweekly in Indianapolis. Ullmann grew up in Mishawaka and graduated from Indiana University. He was a reporter at the Indianapolis Star for almost 10 years and then established the news bureau at IUPUI. He was writing a newsletter on Indiana labor issues when he was recruited in 1992 to become editor of NUVO, a weekly alternative paper. He wrote a column on public affairs in the city and state and led the editorial department during a time when it won numerous journalism awards and grew in circulation from 20,000 to 50,000. He stepped down as editor after seven years and died of lung cancer in 2000.

The Hall of Fame's induction ceremony will take place at 12:30 p.m. April 12 at the Walden Inn in Greencastle. Tickets for the luncheon are $25. Reservations can be mailed before the April 4 deadline to Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame, c/o DePauw University Archives, P.O. Box 37, Greencastle, IN 46135.