This brief history of journalism instruction at the University of Kansas was derived from several sources, among them publications of the William Allen White Foundation, documents prepared by the School and documents (especially course catalogs) stored at University Archives. Barbara [Joseph] Warner's 1993 master's thesis, A Partial History of the Early Journalism Program and the Department of Journalism at the University of Kansas, 1891 to 1948, was an invaluable source, gratefully acknowledged.

1891 - The first journalism course is offered at KU, taught in Old Fraser Hall by Mr. Adams of the department of history and sociology. It is withdrawn after two years.

1894 - Professor of English Edwin M. Hopkins teaches another journalism course. He wrote, "The idea of such a course was exceedingly novel, but [we] thought that it might attract attention and grow into something worth while. However, only three students enrolled in the course." It, too, is withdrawn.

1895 - William Allen White buys the Emporia Gazette.

1903 - Chancellor Frank Strong lays plans for journalism course work. Hopkins, Leon Flint and others develop a course that emphasizes professional and practical experience, setting the tone for journalism instruction at the University. Twelve students enroll.

1904 - The Semi-Weekly Kansan is published.

1905 - Strong asks Charles Harger, editor of the Abilene Reflector, to supervise, plan and teach in the program with Hopkins and Flint. The Kansan becomes the responsibility of newspaper classes.

1908 - Flint develops the first course in advertising, his hobby. Journalism students produce the April 25 edition of the Lawrence Journal, revealing the location of illegal liquor sales and engendering a court case.

1909 - Chancellor Strong authorizes a new department of journalism within the College of Arts and Sciences.

1910 - The department offers six courses: two in reporting, two in editing and one each in history of journalism and advertising.

1911 - Merle Thorpe replaces Harger as department head.

1912 - The Tri-Weekly Kansan becomes the University Daily Kansan and moves to Old Medical Hall. The Department of Journalism Press is created.

1914 - The department first lists graduate-level course offerings.

1915 - The first course in magazine writing appears in the catalog.

1916 - Flint replaces Thorpe as head of the department, which has 216 students.

1923 - Journalism occupies all of Medical Hall. The building was better known as The Shack because of the lean-to additions built to accommodate the growing program. The front lean-to housed the Kansan business office and stenographic pool, and the rear addition held a reading room, classroom and Leon FlintÕs office.

1930 - The catalog lists eight faculty members teaching 34 courses. Courses in two new areas of study appear: Direct Mail Advertising and Law of the Press.

1931 - Flint establishes the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame.

1937 - A grant allows for the purchase of equipment and materials to establish a photography lab. A new course appears: Propaganda and Censorship.

1938 - A new course in a new field appears: News Photography. Students pay a $1 fee.

1939 - New courses in new fields appear: Publicizing Social Agencies, Reporting of Public Affairs, Newspaper Plant Efficiency and Radio Copy Techniques.

1940 - Chancellor Malott renames the Press the Bureau of Printing, with Thomas C. "Mickie" Ryther as head. In 1941, the press is renamed the University of Kansas Press.

1941 - Flint resigns as department chair. Elmer Beth becomes acting chair.

1944 - William Allen White dies.

1945 - The William Allen White Foundation is formed, spearheaded by Rolla Clymer, editor of the El Dorado Times, Deane Malott, chancellor of the university, and Oscar Stauffer, founder of Stauffer Communications, Inc., Topeka. The department becomes the William Allen White School of Journalism and Public Information.

1946 - The first eight students to receive bachelor of science degrees from the School of Journalism graduate. They were given the choice between that degree and a bachelor of arts degree from the College. The eight were Jean Veatch, Anna Hedrick, Patricia Manley, Charles Elliott, Virginia Van Order, Mary Turkington, Rebecca Vallette and Mary Margaret Gaynor.

1948 - The School is accredited for the first time. Burton W. Marvin becomes the School's first dean. A new course appears: Public Communications Promotion.

1950 - A 514-foot tower and other broadcasting equipment are donated to the School by John Harris, Hutchinson, and his brother Sydney Harris, Ottawa, in memory of their uncle, Fred Harris. The FCC grants the call letters KANU to the new FM station.

1952 - After decades of effort, the School leaves the cramped, drafty Shack for new quarters. Fowler Shops offers triple the previous floor space. Beth draws up the original plans for the conversion. A new sequence in radio joins existing sequences in news-editorial, advertising-business and home economics-journalism. Radio Copy Techniques is replaced by three courses dealing with news, continuity and advertising copy.

1953 - A new "wired-wireless" station, KDGU, is established, operated as part of a new radio laboratory course. It broadcasts to six residence halls 5 p.m. - 12 p.m. weekdays.

1955 - The Fowler building is renamed Flint Hall in Leon "Daddy" Flint's honor.

1956 - A new course appears: Laboratory in Television. The three radio courses add "television" to their titles.

1960 - "Notes from Mt. Oread" debuts. This television series, devoted to the fine arts and broadcast live from the campus over WIBW-TV, Topeka, is directed by Bruce Linton, chair of R/TV/F, with assistance from sequence majors.

1962 - A course called Mechanics of Printing, offered for many years as a no-credit, by-appointment course, disappears from the catalog.

1965 - Warren Agee replaces Marvin as dean.

1968 - The School expands offerings to six sequences: news-editorial, advertising, radio-television-film, public relations, photojournalism and magazine journalism. William L. White, son of William Allen White and an accomplished newspaperman in his own right, delivers his first public address about his father at the centennial celebration of his father's birth. He describes his father's feisty nature and his appetite for well-aged, two-inch-thick sirloins.

1969 - Agee leaves. Lee Young serves as acting dean; Ed Bassett becomes permanent dean the next year.

1970 - Lee Young founds the Jayhawk Journalist to serve as a capstone project for magazine students and to enhance the School's communication with alumni.

1971 - The number of sequences drops back to four, as magazine journalism and public relations become options within the news sequence. Of a total of 66 course listings, 21 pertain to broadcasting, although many are one-hour fundamentals courses.

1974 - Del Brinkman replaces Bassett as dean.

1980 - The magazine sequence is revived. The news sequence contains emphasis areas in newspaper, community journalism, science writing and public relations.

1981 - A complete renovation of Flint Hall commences, financed in large part by a $1 million gift from Oscar Stauffer, Topeka media magnate and former employee of William Allen White.

1982 - The School is renamed the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications. The building is renamed Stauffer-Flint Hall in recognition of Stauffer's gift.

1986 - Brinkman leaves. Lee Young again serves as acting dean; Mike Kautsch becomes permanent dean the next year. "Film" is dropped from the R/TV/F sequence name.

1988 - Photojournalism becomes an emphasis within the news sequence, dropping the number of sequences to four. R/TV offers emphases in broadcast news, broadcast sales, broadcast promotion, corporate television and commercial production.

1990 - The R/TV sequence occupies new quarters in the Dole Center for Human Development.

1992 - Business communications appears as an emphasis within the news sequence; science writing disappears. R/TV now offers two emphases: broadcast news and broadcast management: promotion and sales.

1994 - The Kansan prints in full four-color. The news sequence drops the emphasis in community journalism. The catalog lists 68 courses.

1995 - KJHK broadcasts 24 hours a day on the Internet, the first college radio station to do so. Channel 14, the School's low-power television station, is activated on a test basis.

1996 - Kautsch resigns as dean to join the faculty of the KU School of Law. The Kansan goes online as the UDKi, at http://www.kansan.com

1997 - Jimmy Gentry becomes dean. The School formally adopts a Mission Statement and a Values Statement.

1999 - The first section of a multimedia Reporting I class is team-taught by Dean Gentry, Rick Musser and Larry Baden. It is the prototype of a new course in the curriculum, Research and Writing, which will introduce all students in the School to writing for print, broadcast and the Web; students will even shoot and edit video versions of stories.

2000 - The School adopts a revised curriculum based on the convergence of media. Previously existing sequences are subsumed into two tracks, News/Information and Strategic Communications. Several classes include print, broadcast and online elements, and students have more flexibility to take classes outside their nominal track.

2003 - The School negotiates with the Kansas Union, arranging for the Union to take over supervision of KJHK-FM. Dean Gentry announces plans to step down, and the School undertakes a national search for his replacement.

2004 - After serving a year as interim dean, Ann Brill is appointed dean of the School. Brill, who was chair of the school’s News and Information track before being appointed to the interim post in July 2003, is the School's seventh dean.