Crumley adds to her list of journalism honors
By Joy Wortman
J Alumni News staff
Wilma Crumley never imagined herself as a teacher.
"I never planned to teach. It was my husband who was the teacher. I never even thought about it," said Crumley, a native of Fremont.
Once she did think about it, though, Crumley launched a distinguished teaching career that broke ground for women in academia and has earned her several awards, most recently the 2002 Outstanding Contribution to Journalism Education Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. The award was presented at the association's annual convention in Miami last August.
The motivation to teach was thrust upon her, said Crumley, an emeritus professor and former associate dean of the J school. After the sudden death of her husband, who was a professor at Creighton University, Crumley was forced to examine her options to be able to give her young daughters the same opportunities she and her husband were given.
"I knew I had to do something to come up with the money to raise two girls on my own," Crumley said.
She turned first to work at the Mercury, a newspaper in Manhattan, Kan. Although the management commended her work, they made it clear to her that she would never be promoted since women weren't allowed in management positions. "I don't think women today know the hardships or the policies of the past," Crumley said.
This incident of gender discrimination, along with others, led Crumley to leave newspapers and return to college for her advanced degrees.
Crumley earned the bachelor's degree from Midland College in Fremont and the master's and doctorate degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia where she became one of the first of four women to earn a doctorate and paved the way for other women. She taught there as well as Stevens College in Columbia, Mo., before coming to UNL in 1965.
She started her work in journalism the day after she graduated from high school when she accepted a job at the Fremont Tribune and worked there throughout her undergraduate college career. She then worked on the advertising staff, first at the Lincoln Journal Star, then at the Manhattan Mercury.
At UNL, she was the first woman professor in the journalism program. She was an associate dean, head of the graduate program - which she helped create in 1976 and which was one of the few in the nation - held the Gilbert and Martha Hitchcock chair and chaired the advertising department.
During her teaching career, Crumley was concerned about the opportunities for all students and women in particular. She had learned firsthand how women's opportunities could be limited.
"I was the only female professor in journalism education at UNL at the time I started. I was interested in the opportunities for women in advertising and journalism in general - the positions they'd be able to obtain after graduation."
Crumley was one of the two women who founded the Committee on the Status of Women for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. It was that contribution to the association and its members that was recognized with the 2002 award.
Neale Copple, journalism dean emeritus, said he was sure it was hard for Crumley to be the only woman professor on the UNL journalism faculty.
"Most of us tried to make her feel comfortable. We were happy to have her," Copple said, "She is and was one of the most exceptional journalism professors in the nation, and I saw many journalism professors when I was president of the journalism educators' association."
Crumley's record as a journalism teacher at Nebraska was recognized in 2000 when she received the Nebraska Alumni Association Doc Elliot Award, given annually to a retired faculty or staff member whose caring has made a difference in the lives of alumni and who has gone beyond traditional expectations at UNL.
However, Crumley won't take all the credit for her awards and hard work.
"All of this has to do with teaching with great faculty and administration ... That's the way I look at it. And I had an advantage of having really outstanding students which challenged me to work harder."
She said her finest award is hearing from former students about what they took from her classes and what they are doing now.
Today Crumley enjoys gardening, reading, spending time with her daughters and four grandsons and attending NU football games. She also volunteers at a local nursing home.
The many journalism students whose lives she touched over the years can thank Crumley's motivation to teach: her 4- and 5-year old daughters, both of whom graduated from UNL. Their mother considers them her greatest successes.
