OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi Department of Journalism
and Chancellor Robert Khayat announce the reopening of Farley Hall
Friday (Nov. 7), including the dedication of three learning areas
recently named honoring former faculty members.
The public is invited to the 1:30 p.m. reopening ceremony on the front steps of Farley Hall, which houses the journalism department. The celebration also includes the dedication and tour of the J.R. Hoar Center for Excellence in Writing , S. Gale Denley Digital Photo Lab and Samuel S. Talbert Reading Room.
“We now have a building that both students and alumni will be proud to call home for journalism at Ole Miss,” said Samir Husni, journalism chair and Hederman Lecturer. “The alumni will see how far we have come, and the students will feel right at home as they prepare and study to be the future journalists of this world.”
Hoar joined the UM faculty in 1956 and taught for 36 years. He received the campuswide Outstanding Teacher Award in 1974 and the Silver Em in 1994. Hoar’s first book of fiction, “Body Parts,” a collection of short stories, was a Notable Book of the Year selection by The New York Times. His first novel, “The Hit,” was winner of the Independent Publisher Award as best mystery/thriller/suspense novel of the year.
Denley, who died in August after a long illness, was a longtime Mississippi journalist and professional mentor. He was widely known for his years as editor of the Calhoun County Journal in Bruce, as a syndicated columnist and as a journalism professor at UM. In April 2003, the university named its Student Media Center for him.
Talbert was the journalism department’s second chair, serving from 1957 until his death in 1972. In 1958, Talbert established UM’s Silver Em Award, which recognizes a Mississippian or Mississippi-based journalist who has made outstanding contributions in the profession. The award was recently renamed the Samuel S. Talbert Silver Em Award in his honor. Talbert himself was one of a handful of recipients of UM’s prestigious Golden Em Award, which recognizes individuals who’ve made significant contributions to journalism education at Ole Miss.
For more information on journalism education at Ole Miss, visit http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/journalism/ . For more information or to request assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-7146.