A group of College of Journalism and Mass Communications alumni wrote a letter to fellow alumni grieving the loss of professor and friend, Mike Stricklin, who passed away this September. The letter encouraged others to continue Stricklin’s legacy and give to the Michael Stricklin Scholarship Fund to help students pursue a career in journalism.
Read the letter below.
Dear Friends,
We are sure that you, like us, mourn the death of Mike Stricklin, who passed away quietly while surrounded by his family on September 2, 2022.
Many of you got to know Mike as an instructor or an academic adviser while studying journalism at the University of Nebraska, where Mike was faculty from 1977 to 1981 and 1983 to 2001. His probing questions, or philosophical statements would make you stop and think. And while you were sitting there taking it all in and trying to formulate an answer, he would look at you, laugh, and ask, “You get what I am saying?”
And over those conversations, Mike would become a friend, a sounding board who was always willing to talk about the intersection of journalism and life.
He enjoyed spending time with his students and often made it his business to know what you were doing and how it was changing the way we reported the news. Mike never forgot his small-town Texas roots and took particular pride in students from small communities, often he noted the first in their family to graduate from college.
And that is where you can help.
A scholarship intended to help others pursue a career in journalism at the University of Nebraska has been established in Mike’s name and we are hoping that you, like us, will contribute to his legacy. You can make a gift online by visiting https://nufoundation.org/fund/01081850/.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Austin (B.A. 1979; J.D. 1982)
Steve Chatelain (B.A. 1979)
Mary Jo Chatelain (B.A. 1982)
Carla Engstrom (B.A. 1978; M.A 1991)
Mark S. Getzfred (B.A. 1979)
Alisa Miller (B.A. 1992)
L. Kent Wolgamott (B.A. 1979)
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