The Warren Agee Papers

Record Group : 2:18 Journalism

19.5 Linear Ft : 16 Banker's Boxes, 3 Oversize Boxes and 1 Ms. Box

Introduction

A native of Texas, Warren Agee left a position as the dean of the William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas to become the dean of the Henry W. Grady School (later College) of Journalism in 1969. He succeeded long time dean John E. Drewry and became the second dean in the history of the School.

Upon assuming the position of dean, Agee implemented major curriculum revisions resulting in the reaccreditation of all the school's sequences in 1970. He quadrupled the size of school's photographic laboratories, developed a graphics laboratory and from 1969 through 1971 served as the director of the George Foster Peabody Radio and Television Awards.

As dean, Agee oversaw the growth of the school's faculty from 26 to 36 with an emphasis on hiring those with strong research and professional capabilities. He increased the student body from 850 to 1300 while at the same time raising the School of Journalism's academic standards and initiating the planning for a Ph.D. degree in Mass Communication.

In 1975, Agee resigned and was named Dean Emeritus. In this role, he joined the News-Editorial Sequence faculty and returned to teaching, writing and research.

Agee was active in many professional organizations. He was president of the Association of Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and the American Society of Journalism School Administrators. Additionally Agee served two terms on the American Council of Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and was the chairman of that council's Accrediting Committee.

Agee, a former National Executive Office for the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), was awarded the Wells Key - the Society's highest honor -in 1978. In 1987, the SPJ further honored him by presenting him with their Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award.

Agee's writing accomplishments include co-authoring a widely used textbook Introduction to Mass Communications. Another writing highlight was a monthly press review column for The Quill that ran from 1977 to 1982.

In 1982 and 1985 Agee was awarded a prestigious Fulbright award and served as a visiting scholar in Portugal. Other research and lectures took him around the world to places such as France, Taiwan and Nigeria.

Scope and Content

Although "The Warren K. Agee Papers" was received in several shipments a decision was made to assign the collection a single accession number. The collection contains some pre-UGA material but most of the documents pertain to the period of time that Warren Agee served as dean of and taught at the Henry W. Grady School (College) of Journalism.

This accession includes papers that reveal Agee's work to help insure the School of Journalism's reaccreditation. Numerous documents shed light on his efforts to expand and modernize the School's academic offerings and show Agee's interactions with a sometimes resistant faculty.

Additionally "The Warren K. Agee Papers" includes documents regarding his involvement with the Peabody Awards and professional organizations such as the SPJ. Also found in this collection are materials relating to the classes that Agee taught and his travels abroad to places such as Portugal and Nigeria.

For preservation purposes the "Warren Agee Papers" have been refoldered. Metal paperclips have been removed, photographs were placed in archival sleeves and newspaper articles along with fragile paper documents have been photocopied onto archival quality paper. Also as noted in the "Content Inventory" several oversized documents have been placed flat into an oversized box.

Content Inventory

Related Items

1. A listing of books written or edited by Warren Agee can be obtained by entering the search term "Agee, Warren K. " into the University of Georgia Libraries' GIL Catalog http://www.libs.uga.edu/.

2. Georgia Room Vertical File " Agee, Dr. Warren K."

Processed by Carol Bishop, October 20, 2006. Updated February 26, 2007

Return to the University Archives Collection Guide

Return to the Archives Homepage