Noah, James E. (1931-2010)
Date Updated
8-7-2019
Department
School of Journalism & Mass Communication
Academic Rank
Professor
Year Retired from SJSU
1995
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Educational Background
University of Illinois (summers),1957-1959
Illinois State University, 1957 MS
Illinois State University, 1956 BS
Teaching Experience
San José State University, 1962-1995
Northern Illinois University, 1958-1962
Illinois State University, 1957-1958
Administrative and Professional Experience
Director of University Relations (SJSU), 1965-1978.
Public Relations Consulting:
Initial Structures Corp., H. M. Gousha, Leep Homes, Santa Cruz Art & History Museum, The Wurlitzer Company, Largesse Systems, SJSU, 1957-1995.
Selected Publications
Articles published in: Journalism Quarterly,American Artist, College Store Journal,
Ceramics Monthly, Student & Publisher, Illinois English Bulletin, San Jose Mercury
News Sunday Magazine,Stars & Stripes.
Files
Personal Commentary
Honors, Awards and Grants:
SJSU Service Award, 1970;
Distinguished Service Award, Council for the Advancement & Support of Education (CASE), 1978;
Outstanding Faculty Advisor, Public Relations Student Society of America, Far West District, 1990.
After graduating from high school in Illinois in 1949, I turned down a professional baseball contract with the Washington Senators to go to college. I began in the fall with academic and athletic scholarships at Illinois State University, majoring in English and physical education with the idea of coaching and teaching high school. After 3 semesters, I entered the US Army (the Korean War), serving 28 months in Germany. With my discharge in 1954, I returned to ISU on the GI Bill, decided against coaching as a career, got married to my college sweetheart, gave up college athletics, became a part-time sports writer, and earned my BS in 1956 and my MS degree in 1957 in English.
ISU hired me as an instructor of English for the 1957-58 academic year. In 1958, I joined the English faculty at Northern Illinois University. In the summer of 1960, I began a 2-year stint as a consulting writer and editor of The Wurlitzer Company publications, as well as writing promotional materials for the piano and organ division. My work with Wurlitzer was so exciting, I decided to combine my academic and public relations interests, which led me to an appointment as Assistant Director of Public Relations and Assistant Professor of Journalism at SJSU in 1962.
In 1965, I was named Public Relations Director at SJSU while still teaching in theDepartment of Journalism and Mass Communication. I remained as a member of the administrative staff until 1978, serving three presidents. The stressful years of campus protests occurred during my tenure.
Involved with professional organizations, I spoke at regional and national conferences for the American College Public Relations Association, and was named to the ACPRAnational Board of Trustees in 1974. The successor to ACPRA, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), named me to its national Board of Trustees for the 1977-79 term.
Upon my return to full time teaching in Journalism and Mass Communication, I initiated two new courses in the Public Relations degree program and directed the Department's Internship program, which placed more than 300 interns annually. During my years at SJSU, I calculate I taught more than 1200 students, wrote more than 4,000 news releases, designed and edited more than 500 publications, answered too many phone calls and inquiries to count, and I enjoyed all 33 years of my time at SJSU.
Date Completed: September 1996, updated September 2010