Michael Bishop Appointed Hartman Chair of Journalism

Dr. Michael Bishop, professor of journalism at Baylor University, has been named The Fred Hartman Distinguished Professor of Journalism.
"We are pleased to appoint Dr. Michael Bishop as The Fred Hartman Distinguished Professor of Journalism for his many years of service to the department of journalism and to Baylor University," said Dr. Lee Nordt, interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "Dr. Bishop is a great teacher with a caring attitude. He has been a leader in expanding the curriculum in the public relations area, resulting in a substantial increase in the journalism department's enrollment."
Bishop graduated from Baylor with a degree in history in 1959. He earned a master's degree from Columbia University and his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin. He also is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and a retired colonel, specializing in public affairs.
His journalism career began in 1957 as editor of the Baylor Lariat and as a student worker on the Baylor public relations staff in 1958-59. After graduating from Baylor, he worked at Columbia University's office of public relations; as a political reporter at the Honolulu Advertiser in 1964-65; and from 1966 to 1968, was a staff associate at the University of Wisconsin's office of public relations.
From 1968 to 1969, he was communications director at the Peruvian Ministry of Labor, where he designed and implemented a landmark mass media and public relations study funded by the Ford Foundation. Bishop taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1969-75, where he was a tenured associate professor and associate dean of the graduate school.
He returned to the corporate world where he held management positions at Phillips Petroleum Company, R. J. Reynolds Industries and Provident Life and Accident Insurance Co. from 1975 to 1990, when he came back to Baylor as communications and marketing vice president, a position he held until 1995. Bishop also served Baylor as chairman of the journalism department from 1993-96.
Hartman, a Baylor alumnus who passed away in 1991, served as editor and publisher of the Baytown Sun for 24 years before being named chairman of the board of Southern Newspapers Inc., an organization that owns and operates newspapers in a number of states. He eventually founded his own newspaper group, which has since evolved into the Texas Newspaper Group, owned by his son, Bill Hartman, also a Baylor alumnus.
Hartman Enterprises gave Baylor $500,000 to finance the endowed chair. Dr. Loyal Gould, former chairman of the journalism department, was the first holder of the Hartman Chair.