Tom Wheeler earns praise from students, faculty
■ JOURNALISM: The professor is
known for his successful careers as
both a musician and journalist
By Amy Palanuk
Higher Education Reporter
While hanging out in the hallways of
Allen Hall, journalism dean Duncan Mc
Donald noticed a student approach jour
nalism professor Tom Wheeler.
So the dean of the School of Journalism
stopped to eavesdrop on the conversation.
“The student asked Wheeler to give him
some more examples of writing for the me
dia. so Tom started to go into this serious
discussion,” McDonald said. “After a
quick thank you, the student paused, then
asked, ‘Did you ever meet anybody that
was in The Who?’ And Tom says, ‘Well, of
course...
Questions from students like this are
common for Wheeler. As a former writer
and editor for Guitar Player and an avid
guitar player himself, Wheeler has jammed
with some of the greats. And his acquain
tances with stars such as Eric Clapton and
Chuck Berry make him popular with his
students.
But Wheeler’s skills as a musician and
journalist are only part of what he does
well. As a professor in the School of Jour
nalism, Wheeler has recently earned
tenure status with the University, making
him a permanent fix on the faculty.
The tenure was announced a week ago
by University provost John Mosely and
comes as no surprise to McDonald.
“He takes such a deep interest in the
success of students,” McDonald said.
“He’s good in big classes, and he’s good in
small classes. That’s a rare talent.”
Many of Wheeler’s students find his ex
periences with music stars fascinating.
“Tom has a certain cult following,” Mc
m
COURTESY PHOTO
Professor Tom Wheeler earned tenure sta
tus at the School of Journalism and Com
munication last week.
Donald said.
But Wheeler tends to deny any sort of
cult following, claiming that working with
famous people was what he was paid to
do.
“After spending 14 years with a maga
zine whose main focus was guitar players,
interviewing famous bands was just part of
the job,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler won’t deny that the job was
fun, however.
“When I was editor of Guitar Player, I
had literally the best job I’d ever heard of,”
Wheeler said. “Not because it was all fun
and games, but specialty magazines allow
one to pursue one’s passion while still do
ing journalistic work.”
Now, Wheeler’s passion for teaching al
lows him to explore other interests.
Wheeler is currently working on re
search in digital photography, a topic he
found interesting while watching televi
sion with his son.
“I was sitting on the couch watching TV
when he asked, 'Hey dad, is this real?’”
Wheeler said.
Wheeler’s interest was immediately
sparked. He wanted to study the effects on
a generation of children who are growing
up with digitally manipulated images
everywhere in the mainstream media.
“The ability to alter images raises impor
tant issues,” Wheeler said.
These issues are the focus of his re
search, which has led him into ground
breaking discussions with professionals in
photography and law. Next month Wheel
er will attend a conference in Washington,
D.C. to discuss the ethics of digital photog
raphy .
“It means a lot when a faculty member
gets picked to do those things,” McDonald
said. “I like it.”
Wheeler’s popularity in the classroom
stems from the stories he tells students
about working at Guitar Player.
One story that Wheeler shares involves
an interview he once had with legendary
blues musician B.B. King.
"He was telling me about when he was
working in the late 40s, blacks were
ashamed of playing the blues,” Wheeler
said. “Then he went on to talk about some
thing else.”
Wheeler did not understand King’s com
ment on being ashamed of playing, but
proceeded with the interview, pretending
to listen.
“I kept thinking about, what was that
about blacks being ashamed? They invent
ed the blues, what do you mean they’re
ashamed?” Wheeler said.
So Wheeler went back to the question
and asked King to explain what he meant.
“King then went into a dissertation
about how there was a lot of pressure on
them to sound white,” Wheeler said. “That
discussion led into one of the most fasci
nating discussions I’ve ever had with an
interviewee about race, culture and mu
sic.”
Wheeler tells his students there is a les
son from this story.
“If it’s not clear in the middle of the con
versation, get it while you can, or you’ll
never know what direction that inter
view’s going to go. You’ll go home and
kick yourself for not getting it,” Wheeler
said.
Wheeler’s ability to relate past experi
ences with current techniques in journal
istic writing has given him the popular
edge with students.
“He’s a hip teacher,” said Gary Thill, a
graduate teaching fellow in Wheeler’s
Writing for the Media class. “He can work
with students on a real basis, and connects
with them really well.”
Being hip also includes playing the gui
tar, something Wheeler taught himself
how to do when he was 13 years-old.
“He’s pretty bad [meaning good],” Mc
Donald said.
Wheeler is currently part of a band
called the Emerald City Rockets. The band
plays in Eugene venues such as Good
Times and the Rainy Day Cafe.
“We gig very occasionally,” Wheeler
said, “but at this point it’s a hobby. We’re
doing it for fun.”
Wheeler has also written two books on
guitars, one forwarded by B.B. King. He
won the journalism school’s Marshall
Award for Innovative Teaching in 1993,
and also helped start the award-winning
Flux magazine at the School of Journalism.
“I don’t know if it’s a requirement, but
when you can say that one of your faculty
members knows Eric Clapton or Chuck
Berry, that’s pretty cool,” McDonald said.
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