DCAA Scholarship Founder Marilyn Shuman Dies
From her memorial in the Chicago Sun-Times:
Born in Spring Grove, Minn., Ms. Shuman was class valedictorian at Frederic High School in northern Wisconsin and graduated in journalism with honors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was managing editor of the Daily Cardinal. After graduation, she took a job with the Easter Seal Society in Elyria, Ohio, and moved with the organization when it relocated to Chicago. She later worked as associate editor for Success Unlimited and as editor of the Great Books Foundation's monthly publication Gadfly until her first child, Kristin, was born in 1955.
Working as a free-lance writer while rearing her three children in Arlington Heights, Ms. Shuman produced numerous travel and other articles for the Daily News, writing under both the names Marilyn Shuman and Marilyn Johnson. She wrote a Daily News travel column largely about trailer camping called the Pampered Camper in the 1960s and '70s and in the '70s also wrote an advice column called "Ask Marilyn."
During that time, Ms. Shuman also was public relations director for UNICEF's Chicago office and served on the organization's board. She returned to school in her 50s, earning a master's degree in media and communications from Roosevelt, and in the 1980s, she was public relations officer for the Arlington Heights Memorial Library. As a volunteer she helped on Democratic campaigns, including George McGovern's presidential run in 1972, and with meals for the homeless.
"My mother was a model for me and others, demonstrating that women could rear their children, work using their talents for the benefit of others and volunteer," Chicago-based civil rights lawyer Betsy Shuman-Moore, Ms. Shuman's daughter, said in an e-mail.
Shuman was inducted into the Daily Cardinal Hall of Fame in 2000 along with many of her fellow staffers from the World War II years. Shuman served as military editor at the Cardinal and was promoted to managing editor in 1943. She and a number of other women provided invaluable service to the Cardinal in keeping the paper going; many other student newspapers suspended publication during the war years.
In 2002, Shuman organized an effort to provide scholarships to Cardinal editors who served more than one term at a desk or position in an effort to keep experienced staffers in place. The Winner's Circle Scholarship has since awarded more than $3,000 to deserving Cardinal editors. For her efforts Shuman was named the DCAA's 2003 Alumna of the Year.
The DCAA would like to extend its condolences to her family. Her work on behalf of the Cardinal was extraordinarily valuable, and she will be very much missed.
Cardinal Office Renovation Update!
Look what you did!
Cardinal managing editor Laura-Claire Corson stands in front of the Cardinal's "awards wall," which features honors from the SPJ, WNA and the ACP's pacemaker award, which the Cardinal won half a dozen times in a row in the 1940s. Alumni donations framed and hung those awards, and paid for the sofa slipcover and new chairs you can see in the foreground. Past Cardinal issues also hang on the wall.
Painting (by business manager Josh Janos, who spent his summer up to his elbows in eggshell and crimson), picture framing, computer wiring, cleaning, equipment purchases -- thanks to your generosity when the Cardinal staff returns for work on the Fall Registration Issue next week, they'll have a new office. A clean, professional, fully stocked office lined with awards and past issues and reminders of the great tradition that supports their work.
Cardinal editor in chief Sam-Omar Hall shows off the new Cardinal graphics department's computer graphics tablet, which will allow artists to create editorial cartoons, illustrations and comics for the paper. The Cardinal did not have such a tablet -- alumni donations from former graphics editors provided it!
It's hard to overestimate what this means for them. Over and over this weekend, Cardinal staffers told us, "This feels like a kick-start to the year." Those of you who donated towards equipment and supplies have given kids who work hard for little to no pay a much-needed morale boost. Now, when they're working in that office, they'll know what a vast support system they have, how many people they can turn to for help as they pursue better journalism.
CLICK HERE to see ALL the before-and-after pictures of the Cardinal's office.
Cardinal business manager Joshua Janos sits in the renovated ad office, which has been painted and stocked with new computers, chairs and bulletin boards -- all through generous alumni donations.
Thank you again for all you've done! Look for further updates from the Cardinal staff in the next two weeks!