After 10 years of being the director of the journalism school, Bob Stewart is turning off his “Always Open” sign.
He has a new grandson, Francesco, who he hasn’t met yet. Though, he is going to New Jersey to meet him over spring break. Stewart’s father is 91 years old, and his wife’s mother is 89.
Stewart realized he was at a point in his life where he wanted to see his family, including his three grandchildren. It's not even babysitting, it's just hanging out with them, Stewart said with a laugh.
Stewart, 62, announced his plan to retire at the end of the semester on Feb. 19.
Stewart said he is “finally graduating” from the school after 33 years.
Stewart started working at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism teaching broadcast journalism in 1987, and he became director in 2010.
Stewart said he was asked to start an experimental class that focused on online journalism because he had experience from coding a project. He created Fundamentals of Online Journalism in the mid ‘90s, which is still offered.
A few years later, in 2005, he was chosen by Tom Hodson, who was the director at the time, to be the associate director of the school.
Stewart said Hodson asked him to take over the position while they were in a cab in New York City. He said he was in disbelief that Hodson wanted him.
Before Stewart officially became director of the school in 2010, Hodson’s wife got sick. Hodson asked Stewart to unofficially take over the school.
Stewart said this opportunity to cover for Hodson was like his tryout for the team, to see if he liked the role.
“It was the perfect way to practice,” he said.
When Hodson officially stepped down, he had to convince the then-dean Greg Shepherd to hire Stewart because the two had a “bumpy relationship.”
When faculty members voted, only two people were against Stewart’s appointment.
He was first signed to a three-year term, then a five year term.
And then another five years, which he is now cutting short.
The next director of the school has to be a tenured faculty member, according to an email from Scott Titsworth, dean of the Scripps College of Communication, to the journalism faculty.
Aimee Edmondson, associate professor and director of graduate studies, said there are nine associate professors eligible: herself, Eddith Dashiell, Craig Davis, Elizabeth Hendrickson, Parul Jain, Victoria LaPoe, Hans Meyer, Mary Rogus and Jatin Srivastava.
There are also five full professors: Marilyn Greenwald, Bill Reader, Bernhard Debatin, Michael Sweeney and Yusuf Kalyango, but Kalyango is under suspension for sexual harassment.
On March 3, Titsworth will give the applications to all journalism faculty members for review. On March 16, the faculty will meet with Titsworth for discussion about the applications.
Then, on March 20, faculty members will meet, provide votes of “Acceptable” and “Not Acceptable” applicants and rank the candidates. The results will be given to the dean with a voting summary and comments from faculty members.
The plan is to have the new director chosen during the week of March 23. This will help the transition with Stewart leaving.
When he was chosen to be the director, Stewart’s biggest mentor was Ralph Izard, who was director of the school when Stewart was hired to teach.
“Ralph Izard is an absolute legend,” Stewart said.
Stewart met Izard at a conference in Oklahoma in 1986, a year before he was hired and the year Izard was selected to be director.
When Izard described Athens to Stewart, who grew up in Thailand, Stewart became enthralled with moving there.
Stewart said he was hoping that if he got an interview, it would be an in-person, on-campus interview, so he could see the city.
Recently, Stewart was looking back at faculty meeting minutes and stumbled upon the meeting where they were hiring for his teaching position.
Stewart said he was the third choice for the job, but Izard later told him that he was the right choice, which he said was all that matters.
At the time, he was finishing his doctoral work in communications at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Before this, Stewart wanted to write film scores. He studied music for two years in Alabama. Then he was a singer-songwriter in high school and wanted to do something with it, but it was much more difficult than he realized.
“Music is something I’ve always done,” he said, pointing at lyric sheets on his desk. “My mother was a gifted musician.”
Stewart said before she died, his mother had Alzheimers, but when they put a keyboard in front of her, “she cut loose.”
Stewart is also the leader of the Bob Stewart Band.
When asked if he is also retiring from the band, his response was: “Are you kidding me? No.”
After leaving his music program in Alabama, he went to Hunter College and got a bachelor’s degree in communications. Then, similarly to his doctoral degree, he got a master’s degree in communications from the University of Washington in Seattle.
Stewart said he originally thought about retiring in 2023, so he could see the school through the centennial. Then he thought about 2022, so it would be an even 35 years.
Then the buyout came around.
“Once I started thinking about it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” he said.
Stewart said 10 years is the perfect amount of time for him.
He said it is going to get really hard around OU because of the budget.
“The budget situation feels grim,” he said.
Stewart said a younger, more resilient director will be able to get the school through any difficult times.
When Stewart’s wife retired, he started thinking about the possibility of retirement.
Stewart’s wife, Penny Shelton, was hired at Holzer Health System in 2004 to be a family care physician. She had over 2,000 patients who she had to do tasks for, such as emails and computer work. After dinner, she would work for about an hour and a half.
Stewart said this was draining on her.
Now, Shelton is the only doctor at Holzer who is licensed in medical marijuana, which she made a part-time job.
Shelton used to work at the East State Street location, but now she works at the one on Court Street. The two walk to work together and get lunch together.
Stewart’s “Always Open” sign was a gift from Andy Alexander, a Scripps Howard Visiting Professional. He said students can see it from outside his office, and even out his window on the street, so they know he is available.
Stewart and his wife will still be staying in Athens, just a ten-minute walk away.
