IU alumnus Thom Hogan creates scholarship in honor of Professor Emeritus Herbert A. Terry
Photographer, writer, and internet publisher Thom Hogan, MA ’78, created the new Herbert A. Terry Ethics and Integrity in Media Scholarship to honor Herbert A. Terry, a professor emeritus of telecommunications at IU’s Media School.
Hogan, whose career also includes a vast array of work in technology, created the scholarship to not only honor Terry but also help future students and direct them toward an ethical life in the media.
As an alumnus of The Media School, he worked closely with Terry, who is considered an expert on electronic media law and policy. The professor sat on the committee for Hogan’s Ph.D. and made a significant impact on how Hogan thought about the morals and legalities of media practice.
“He had a strong influence on lots and lots of students from the late ‘70s all the way to 2008,” Hogan said about Terry. “He was probably the most knowledgeable faculty member about the legality of media in the United States. And there wasn’t any part of the regulatory or legal aspects [of media] that he didn’t know.”
In his position, Terry often sought to help students learn that our understanding of the media is always changing, so researchers have to adapt frequently.
“Research in telecommunications law and policy has a short half-life because of constant and rapid changes in the law,” he said in an email to Hogan. “Those changes often posed problems when one taught subsequent classes that followed basic ones where the ‘correct’ current law was different from what they had just learned! This means the law and policy classes that I taught always had to be substantially revised whenever I taught them.”
While Terry is often regarded for his knowledge of media law and his work outside the U.S. in the former Soviet Union and other nations transitioning from government-controlled media to help create environments suitable for independent media, he also fostered invaluable relationships with students.
“The way I know Herb is that he cared about every student,” Hogan said. “What he cared about was what they were doing and how they fit into the world. Within those bounds, he would encourage just about anybody and give support to anybody who asked. He wanted to empower us.”
Hogan added that when developing his plan to create a scholarship in Terry’s name, he wanted the award to also emphasize what Terry stood for. He wanted to highlight the integrity Terry showed as a professor and media professional.
“One of the things I told Herb the last time I saw him was that he really made me think about media and ethics,” Hogan said. “I was always thinking about if we were doing the right things. There’s a moral right and a legal right, and he was trying to make me understand that there’s more of the world out there than just me. You’re actually affecting other people.”
Now under the direction of the IU Student Foundation, Hogan hopes the scholarship award can help IU Media School students succeed in their studies. To make a gift to the fund, visit the Herbert A. Terry Ethics and Integrity in Media Scholarship award page on give.myiu.org.