TCC was well represented at the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association (TIPA) convention last week. Not only did two student led publications win a total of 30 awards, the former director of student publications, Eddye Gallagher, was inducted into the TIPA Hall of Fame. According to current Director of Student Publications, Chris Whitley, she is the third TCC adviser to enter the Hall of Fame, following Joe Norton and Diane Turner.
Gallagher started at TCC in August 1970, serving as assistant director of student publications. She co-advised the newspaper and advised for a magazine. In 1974, all publications but the newspapers were eliminated. Gallagher’s “temporary” transfer to the English department lasted 25 years. While there, she helped start and publish a literary journal. In 1999, she returned to the Journalism program after Norton retired and became director of student publications. She stayed in that role until she retired in July 2017.
No stranger to the TIPA, Gallagher has held several leadership positions with the organization having served as secretary three times and president and vice president twice.
“In my acceptance speech, I mentioned that’s it’s quite an honor to be in a group with people like Bob Schieffer, Mollie Ivins and other big names,” said Gallagher. “But I was more excited and overwhelmed by being put into the same category as some people who had a big impact on my life.”
Gallagher looks back fondly on another Hall of Fame member, Dorothy Estes, who started the journalism program when TCC South opened. “She was my high school English teacher,” she said. “And if it hadn’t been for her, I wouldn’t have gone to college. She set my whole professional life up. She became my mentor and was with me throughout the rest of her life.”
Likewise, Gallagher mentored many students in her distinguished career including another TIPA Hall of Fame mentor, Fred Stewart, who was a director of TIPA and serves as an adviser for the Journalism program with Texas A&M University- Commerce.
Even though she is retired from TCC, Gallagher stays in tune with what is going on with the Journalism program. “I read The Collegian every week, and I follow their work,” she said. “I get excited to hear what they are doing, and I love to celebrate those wins with them.”
Gallagher has high praise for Chris Whitley and others – “Chris is a great adviser. Stacy Luecker is a fantastic person who shares her knowledge of photography and design with the production students. And the other teachers are good at preparing the students for interviewing, researching and writing,” she said.
She is proud of the journalism students. “The students are prepared for wins. It’s hard to cover so many campuses, but the students who take on those jobs are devoted and determined. I feel like they are still mine.”