Eversole to step aside as adviser to NSU student newspaper

Dr. Dana Eversole, professor of mass communications at Northeastern State University, has resigned as adviser to The Northeastern. She will continue to teach journalism classes, and her TNE role is assumed by Cassie Freise, mass communications instructor.

On university campuses, calling a faculty member a "fixture" might seem clichd, but the term is neither trite nor an exaggeration when applied to the long-time adviser to Northeastern State University's student newspaper.

With 20 continuous years of counseling students on staff, Eversole is easily the longest serving adviser in the publication's 102-year history.

"I've done some research and nobody has come close to advising the newspaper for that long," said Eversole. "The most is maybe four years, or two years with a hiatus and another two years. I'm proud to have done this for 20 years."

Eversole was hired as an adjunct in 1989 while working for the Tahlequah Daily Press. In Fall 1990, she was hired full-time as one of two faculty in a short-handed mass communications department. The department chair, Dr. Tom Kennedy, had a broadcast background, so Eversole advised the newspaper while teaching an 18-hour class load.

Eversole refers to her time with TNE as "60 semesters." She has been TNE adviser every term without pause and counseled every summer staff.

"When I first started, we had four computers and a printer that belched toner every time we changed the cartridge," she said. "Our campus print shop printed the paper. It's all computerized now. We e-mail our pages to the Muskogee Phoenix to be printed and we have our online articles up before we even get the papers back."

Eversole earned her bachelor's degree from NSU in journalism education. She advised the newspaper and yearbook at Joplin (Mo.) Parkwood High School and attended Pittsburg State for her master's in communication.

She was a member of the NSU faculty when she received her doctorate from Oklahoma State. She was named an Outstanding Young Oklahoman in 1998 and received the Lois A. Thomas Award of Distinguished Merit in Teaching in 2000 from the University of Oklahoma. NSU named her a Circle of Excellence winner for service in 2000.

Eversole's erstwhile protgs can be found around northeastern Oklahoma, and there is no shortage of her former students on the NSU campus.

"I feel like this is the end of an era," said Sarah Turner McGowen, coordinator of student discipline at NSU and former TNE editor. "Danas passion and excitement for journalism was always a welcome presence during staff meetings, and her guidance helped us learn how to break stories in a responsible and ethical way. More than anything, she promoted freedom of the press, and that is an invaluable lesson to have learned as an undergrad."

Amber Cowan, director of NSU's Galaxy of Stars series, and her graduate assistant, Jessica Remer, apprenticed with TNE. Remer is a former editor.

"I think I'll always think of The Northeastern as Dana's baby," said Cowan. "It's been hers for so long. I definitely think she has left a legacy with the newspaper."

"If you're a really dedicated mass comm student, you get to know Dana both in the classroom and the office, and then outside of the office," said Remer. "It's because of her that I continued toward my master's degree. She has influenced me and will probably continue to influence me throughout my career."

Even Eversole's successor is a former pupil. While in graduate school, Freise was TNE editor for two years.

"We have different styles of presentation, but I've been here for 10 years as a student, grad student and instructor, and everything I do, I've learned from Dana and (assistant professor of communication studies) Amy Aldridge Sanford," said Freise. "I've tweaked things to fit my personality and classroom environment, but it's stuff I've learned in those classrooms and implemented."

Eversole said Friese provides the new perspective necessary for a newspaper in the digital era.

"It needs a fresh look," said Eversole. "Freise is into social media and can further supplement our print product with online content through Twitter and Facebook and expand the paper's readership."

"I'll miss everything about The Northeastern," Eversole added. "I'll miss when a student is excited about an article and wants me to read itor when the staff breaks a piece of news they didn't think they could break. I'll also miss the excitement of waiting for the finished product each week."

Eversole will continue to counsel journalism students as a professor, but said it will be a bit different without the facet of TNE.

"I have a different relationship with those students who worked on The Northeastern," she said. "You get to know them better because you work long hours and always talk about the newspaper. It's great to see your students graduate and go far, accomplishing things, earning good salaries and taking on a lot of responsibility. That is most gratifying. I get to see these students grow, go out and take on the world."