John E. Stempel, BA’23, led the IU journalism department from 1938-1968. His lifelong affiliation with IU and journalism began as a student in the early 1920s. He was editor of the Indiana Daily Student, and worked on the student paper at the same time as future IU president Herman Wells and fellow inductees Pyle and Poynter. After graduation, he earned a master’s degree from Columbia University and worked on the New York Sun and The Express in Easton, Pa.
Under his leadership, IU became one of the first accredited journalism education programs in the nation. He increased the number of faculty and broadened the scope of studies available to students. He hired the program’s first broadcast professor and established the doctoral program in 1963. He also created the High School Journalism Institute.