Spring 2012 • - College of Humanities and Social Sciences - Indiana ...

Teachers like IUP journalism professor,
David Loomis. Since age 12,
Loomis has been playing guitar,
influenced by jazz that his father listened
to, folk that his brother listened to,
rock ‘n’ roll that his sister listened to,
and Jerry Garcia (singer and lead guitar
player for the Grateful Dead). He continued
to establish his talent while playing
in music groups and now plays in a local
band called “Grist for the Mill”, that has
been playing blues for about three-and-ahalf
years.
Apart from playing in bands, Loomis
sometimes plays for his students.
He puts a special spin on his teaching
methods for his news reporting course,
in which he teaches students how to accurately
and efficiently report the “who,
what, where, when, and so what?” in each
story they write. However, for a particular
assignment, instead of sending them out
to cover their own story, he performs for
them during a class session in which students
must obtain information from him
to construct an interesting, well-rounded
piece of journalism. The songs he plays
for class include “The National Anthem”,
“Mother Earth” by Memphis Slim, “Treat
Me Nice” by Elvis Presley, and an original
song called “Disconnected”, a parody on
the complications of online dating.
Loomis had a career in print journalism as a
copy boy, reporter, researcher, columnist and
editor before being offered a scholarship. He
then attended graduate school at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned a doctorate
as a Park Fellow in journalism and mass communication
in 2002. Instead of pursuing a life in music,
he chose to follow a more profitable, yet still enjoyable,
teaching career.
“A student once asked, ‘What would you do if someone said
you could stop teaching and play music.’ I said I’d probably
do it in a minute, but there’s no way I could replicate the
amount of money I make as a teacher. If we were dreamin’
about it then, yeah, I’d have a lot of fun doing it.”
“It’s perfect for getting students to pay
attention to reporting an event,“ said Loomis.
“If you send students out to cover an event,
they can make a mistake and you’d never know
it. In the meantime, I can have some fun and
it’s something different.”
Dr. David Loomis
Courtesy of iup.edu
Spring 2012 Lights! Campus! Action! 5