Santa Claus

Farewell to news-ed’s Santa Claus

By Will Norton Jr.
Dean, College of Journalism

If you happened to walk into Avery Hall during the last 15 years, there is a good chance you would have met a short, stocky man with a gray beard who looked more like Santa Claus than any of those bell ringers on the sidewalks at Christmas time.

If you had been a new student in news-editorial, you might have thought the happy person you had met was sort of a departmental clown. It might have taken you a week or two to realize this was no mythological character of “ho, ho, ho” fame but a driven writing teacher.

Behind all the jokes and witty comments and stories was a serious, no-nonsense teacher who expected to do all he could to help you become the best professional writer you could be.

When I arrived on the campus in August of 1990 I, too, was taken by the winsome wit of Bud Pagel. I learned he had been a faculty member for the previous eight years and had just been named chairman of the Department of News-Editorial. He would be chair for the next five years before handing the chairmanship to Daryl Frazell in order to provide two years of transition before his retirement.

In 1990 some of the faculty were not eager to have a replacement for Dean Neale Copple, particularly a replacement from Mississippi. However, from the moment I met Pagel, he made it clear that he would respect me and he expected me to respect him.

As he puts it, “You had been named dean, so I was committed to working with you, no matter what kind of guy you turned out to be.”

Actually, Bud found some aspects of being chairman abominable. He hated all the paperwork. He was guarded about many of the directives that came down from above, and he was suspicious of the pendulum swings in academic policies.

He sometimes found my perspectives less than appropriate. Within the first month of my arrival on campus, he came to my office about a problem. I was headed out of the building to see an insurance dealer and asked him if he could ride with me.

As we drove down 9th Street, he brought up the topic of his visit. He was very unhappy with me about a meeting I had called. As I learned about his unhappiness I became irritated, and before many blocks had passed we were expressing our frustrations in a rather intense manner.

I’m not sure that we resolved our conflict that day or many other conflicts that were raised on other days. We agreed most of the time, but when we differed, we always were able to talk about things that bothered us deeply, and we respected each other’s positions. There was no pretense. We could tell each other what we thought without worrying about losing each other’s respect.

Few people will tell you what they think and be willing to accept you as you tell them what you think. However, Bud was always candid and always accepting.

He knows me. He does not like some of the things I do or some of the policies to which I hold, but he knows that I respect him and am deeply grateful for those many things he does so well. Because of his candor and honesty, we are not merely colleagues; we are friends.

Fortunately, Bud is not leaving. He will be teaching one course a semester for us in the future, and advanced students in our college will continue to hone their writing skills under a master.

Fortunately, Bud Pagel can still come into my office and tell me where I am off base and help me get on track.

I am grateful for all that he has done during the last 15 years, and I am eager to see what he is able to do in his semi-retirement.

Bud Pagel has helped to make this a better college during his tenure on this faculty, and he is going to keep making a significant contribution for many semesters to come.