Shannon McEnerney | May 18, 2010
 |
| Photo by Scott Myrick |
| Professor Jon Dilts retires May 31. He has served as an administrator and professor for 28 years. |
Related |
May 31, Dilts will retire after 28 years with the IU School of Journalism. His office, snug in the corner on the first floor of the School of Journalism, is moving out.
After more than 20 years serving as a professor and as an administrator -– Dilts was the associate dean for undergraduate studies and regional campuses for 17 years — he is ready for some time post-teaching, time when he will be able to travel, read for pleasure and volunteer – all good things, he said.
“Fun for the most part,” he added, smiling.
But he’ll miss the students.
“That’s easy,” he says of what he will miss from his time at IU. “It wouldn’t make sense not to do it for any other reason. Bloomington attracts a lot of good students.”
And Bloomington attracts a lot of good professors. Dilts is one of them, according to colleague professor Jack Dvorak. Dilts can talk about libel and make it the most lively topic in the world, Dvorak said. Dilts, who is also a lawyer, always tried to make the legal concepts interesting to students, Dvorak said, especially in J300 Communications Law, which is often the first law-based course journalism students take.
“I’d rate him as an excellent teacher,” Dvorak said. “He provides the opportunity to learn and has inspired some people in the legal area – a number of students go on to law school because of his good teaching and inspiration.”
Dvorak remembers when Dilts taught J110 Foundations of Journalism and Mass Communications, which is the school’s basic introductory journalism course for incoming freshman and prospective majors. It’s a large class, with more than 100. Dilts spent weeks and months preparing to teach the course, Dvorak said. He developed video and audio clips and played music for the students before the class started to get the students hyped. Then, Dvorak said, Dilts would make a grand entrance in tune with the music when the class started.
At the end of the semester, the students gave Dilts a standing ovation.
“That is almost unheard of,” Dvorak said. “That’s the kind of teacher he was. I admire him and others who are good at teaching a large group.”
Fifth-year senior Meredith Enkoff was in Dilts’ J407 Newsgathering and the Law course during the spring semester. It was Dilts’ energy, she said, that brought the nearly 30 student class together.
“Even if the class didn’t seem to want to talk or discuss on a certain day, he was just always really positive and didn’t hesitate to generate conversation if no one else was talking,” Enkoff said.
The entire class was devoted to law cases and research, with the students divided into groups. They wrote analytical papers accompanied by presentations.
“He showed me how to really look at a law case that might seem really boring and see the bigger picture, and be able to apply it to journalism today and current affairs,” Enkoff said.
Dilts said through the years, he always tried to tell the students that as they go through the college years, it’s important to become professional and to think like a professional.
“They have to give it that energy to be a professional,” Dilts said.
You can lose a lot of time by playing in college, Dilts said, but the students who think like professionals and understand what it will take to get a job will succeed.
Dvorak recalled walking with Dilts to the IU campus over the years. One winter there was a huge snowstorm with snow up to the waist. Dvorak recalls how both he and Dilts trudged through, going one step at a time through the snowdrifts.
“He stayed in great shape,” Dvorak said, estimating that Dilts walked 32,000 miles to and from the Bloomington campus during his 28 years.
Dilts will continue to stay in shape during retirement. He owns a 19-foot open boat, Dvorak said.
“He’s going to enjoy going out and cruising on Lake Lemon – it’s one of his hobbies,” Dvorak said, adding that Dilts and his wife Anne would often go out early in the morning on the lake and watch the sunrise.
While Dilts said he doesn’t know what to expect in retirement, he knows that he plans to stay in Bloomington.
“That’s life – it takes you from one job to another,” he said, adding that he expects to be adaptable to whatever happens next.
He serves on several boards, including those of Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology and the Community Justice and Mediation Center in Bloomington. He is president-elect of his Rotary Club of Bloomington.
“As a friend, I’m not going to lose him, but as a professional colleague I will lose him,” Dvorak said. “We’re all going to miss him a lot.”
About Jon Dilts:
- English degree, Saint Meinrad College, 1967
- U.S. Army 1968-71
- Reporter/editor at the Peru (Ind.) Daily Tribune, 1972-78
- Master’s degree in journalism and political science, IU, 1974
- Reporter, Vidette-Messenger in Valparaiso, Ind.
- Interim editor of Star-Register Newspapers, Crown Point, Ind.
- Part-time lecturer in journalism at Valparaiso University
- Law degree, Valparaiso University, 1981
- Law clerk with Hoeppner, Wagner & Evans in Valparaiso
- Law clerk, Court of Appeals of Indiana, 1981
- Joined the School of Journalism in 1982
- Research interests: Press clause of the First Amendment
- Publications: Communication Law and Policy, Journalism and Mass Communications Quarterly, Communications and the Law
- Author: Media Law (with the late IU journalism professor Ralph Holsinger) and The Magnificent 92, about Indiana’s courthouses, with the late IU journalism professor Will Counts.
- Currently: Serves on the boards of Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, Community Justice and Mediation Center in Bloomington, Rotary Club of Bloomington. He is a registered civil mediator and member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Indiana Supreme Court and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
Questions? Comments? Email the Web editor.
