NSPA & ACP THROUGH THE DECADES

1975

<

Buckeye Serves 3 Years As Director

Jeanne Buckeye succeeds Wally Wikoff as executive director. In her previous three years with NSPA/ACP, Buckeye serves as Scholastic Editor editor and associate director and as acting director. Buckeye resigns, departing in September, 1978, to begin graduate study full time.

“Having seen ACP and NSPA through some hard times, having made some positive contributions and having met my personal goals as well, I feel it is now time for me to move on,” Buckeye said.

1976

COLLEGE YEARBOOKS: “ALIVE AND KICKING”

“College yearbooks are alive and kicking,” Scholastic Editor reports.

“Across the country, circulation of college yearbooks is up and a number of books which died during the late 1960s and early 1970s have been revived. The University of Wisconsin Badger, University of Oregon Oregana and Michigan State University Red Cedar Log were among the high-profile comeback yearbooks.

1978

<

Howell Succeeds Buckeye

Les Howell, a former award-winning publications adviser, succeeds Jeanne Buckeye as executive director. His “The Director’s Chair” column in Scholastic Editor reports that critique turnaround time has greatly improved, the quality of the critique certificates is upgraded and Super Critiques were launched, along with a new Scholastic Photographer magazine. After serving slightly more than a year, Howell resigns in November 1979. A national search launches for his replacement.

NSPA, JEA HOST SEPARATE CONVENTIONS

The 51st annual NSPA convention is the first in decades not co-sponsored with JEA. The October event in Minneapolis is designed as an “editors and advisers conference” featuring “intensive learning and participatory sessions.”

In 1979 and 1980, the NSPA conference was held at the Palmer House in Chicago. NSPA did not offer a spring conference from 1978-1980. Joint fall conventions resumed in 1981 in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1990 in Seattle, NSPA and JEA co-sponsored a spring convention for the first time since 1977.

1980

Beginning in 1946, the NSPA conference starts at noon on Thanksgiving. In 1965, the convention schedule changes and the conference begins at 8 a.m. on Friday to allow students and advisers to have Thanksgiving dinner at home before traveling. In 1968, when the conference started on Thanksgiving, NSPA hosted Thanksgiving dinner at the Palmer House for conference officials at 3 p.m. after the JEA Executive Council meeting. Executive director Otto Quale mailed invitations on NSPA letterhead.

< ROLNICKI BEGINS 26 YEARS AS LEADER

Tom Rolnicki, an award-winning teacher and adviser at both the high school and collegiate levels, is named executive director, a position he would have for 26 years.

During the 1970s, Rolnicki had served in JEA leadership roles, including vice president, Midwest regional director and director of the JEA Summer Seminar for teachers.

Renewing and strengthening relationships with JEA and NCCPA is one of Rolnicki’s top priorities. He and Jerry Kline attend the JEA and NCCPA spring conventions to discuss future cooperation.

AFTER34 YEARS in the Journalism Building, the NSPA/ACP offices move from Murphy Hall to the corner of Oak Street and Washington Avenue SE where 720 Washington Avenue SE, Suite 205, will be home for the next eight years. (top) Jeanne Buckeye, conference coordinator and Betty Fornell, bookkeeper, discuss organization business. (center) Director Wally Wikoff works at his desk opening mail. (bottom) The NSPA/ACP offices are located on the second floor above The Best Steak House. In 2022, Bruegger’s Bagels is located on the ground floor and the University of Minnesota Physicians occupy the top floors.

Yearbook Staff Meeting

The Annual W yearbook staff, Waukegan High School (Illinois) discuss content and coverage while double-checking lists of story and photo ideas. “A school yearbook is a true source of history,” Scholastic Editor magazine reports.

ALL-AMERICAN RATING

In journalism classrooms across the country, rating certificates from the NSPA line the walls. For more than 40 years, the certificates featured a very traditional design with the original National Scholastic Press Association circular logo. The coveted All-American rating is highest honor from the critical service.

Illustrating The Point

Informing and entertaining, a speaker at the 1979 colllege media convention in San Francisco, uses his artistic talent to accent his presentation with an illustration called “Good Investigative Material.”

Covering The Uncovered

The University of Denver Clarion headlined it as their exposé of the year. Other college newspapers on 44 campuses in 21 states and the District of Columbia covered it with a total of 212 items ranging from filler to full pages and double trucks. In all, 32 cartoons and 97 photographs exposed the year’s big story. Dario Politella analyzes the coverage of streaking in collegiate newspapers in his article published in Scholastic Editor magazine in 1974.

Rebranding

In the 1970s, new logos for NSPA and ACP were introduced, replacing a graphic created in 1947. For the first time, ACP receives its own logo.

Convention Tour

F. Gerald “Jerry” Kline, president of the board, addresses organizational and financial challenges facing NSPA/ACP at the 1979 college media convention in San Francisco. One of Kline’s first priorities was attending the high school and college conventions to renew and strengthen relationships with JEA and NCCPA (now CMA).