Bill Click, former chair of Winthrop Department of Mass Communication, has died
Dr. John William Click, the longtime chair of Winthrop University’s Department of Mass Communication, died Thursday after a brief illness.
He was 86.
Click, known as “Bill” to his many friends and acquaintances at Winthrop, in the community, in academics and in the journalism profession, joined Winthrop as chair of the department in 1987. He retired as chair in 2013 after having led the department through many changes, including advances in technology that have revolutionized the profession and mass communication education.
Click taught at Ohio University in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism from 1965 to 1983. He came to Winthrop from LSU, having served as director and professor of the Manship School of Journalism.
He was charged with obtaining the Winthrop department’s first national accreditation, which came in 1997. He led multiple successful re-accreditation efforts after that, and the department remains nationally accredited. Click was a member of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
When the department celebrated its 75th anniversary in the 2021-22 academic year, he returned to campus and recounted some of the history of the department. He noted that when he was hired, lower academic standards in the department led to large class enrollments – so large that the students weren’t receiving appropriate education in the many aspects of journalism and broadcasting. He tightened curriculum standards.
Under his leadership, the department, through a partnership with the College of Business, added the Integrated Marketing Communication program to address educational needs in public relations, advertising and marketing communication. The first class under the IMC program was offered in 1999. Click also led a redesign of the curriculum to emphasize multimedia storytelling and social media.
Before coming to Winthrop, Click was a leader in high school journalism and developed a workshop known throughout the Midwest, said his longtime colleague, Marilyn Sarow. He also was known in the magazine industry and published a book in 1974, “Magazine Editing and Production,” which was published in six editions. He also published books on the governance of college media publications and on college media and advising, with a focus on the ethics of advising.
His academic and related publishing spanned five decades, and his activities, memberships and associations across academics and the industry made him a nationally known figure.
Click was inducted into the Ball State University Journalism Hall of Fame in 1987 as the third inductee, the College Media Advisers Hall of Fame in 1994 as a charter inductee, and the Central Michigan University Journalism Hall of Fame in 2005. He had been a member of Kappa Tau Alpha, the journalism honor society, since 1959.
Faculty lauded Click for his outstanding leadership, patience – and exceptional memory.
“I don’t think he ever forgot a name or a face,” said Guy Reel, current chair of the mass communications department. “He set a foundation for the department that has been demonstrated over and over by the incredible success stories of the students that came here over those years.”
After his retirement, the department established a Mass Communication Scholarship in his honor.
The family is planning a memorial service and a celebration of his life in October. Additional announcements will follow. Greene Funeral Home in Rock Hill is handling the arrangements. Dr. Click is survived by his wife, Dixie; two sons, Reid and Kevin; and other family members.
This story was originally published September 16, 2022 at 4:55 PM.