“My goal is to help students understand what a great profession this is and how exciting it can be. Then, of course, it’s to give them the skills that allow them to dive into this field with great confidence.”  -- Eric Adler  

For Eric Adler, lecturer, what sets the William Allen White School of Journalism apart is its “true dedication to the deep and lasting value of journalism to American democracy.”

“Journalism is a sacred trust guaranteed by the Constitution and vital to the workings of a free society,” Adler said. “The J-School is dedicated to teaching the craft of journalism at its highest level.”

Adler’s favorite part of his job: “Teaching students how to see the world in terms of stories, and then watching them get it and tell those tales.” His advice for current journalism students is “to read everything that they can get their hands on to understand how stories are structured and told. Take the best. Toss the rest. Then write until your knuckles bleed.”

Adler has been a senior feature reporter for The Kansas City Star since 1985. For the man who “has been a journalist his entire adult life,” teaching at KU has been “a wonderful, heartening and invigorating experience.”

Adler earned his undergraduate degree in physiology and zoology at Rutgers University in New Jersey and his masters from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. He was also a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

He began his career as a science and medical reporter and later switched to features. He has won numerous state and national writing awards, including the National Headliner Award, the Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Award as well as repeated top honors from the National Association of Sunday and Features Editors.