Long-time adviser retires after 35 years
Turns page on new chapter
Rikki Saldivar
Issue date: 4/27/09 Section: News
Not only has Walker taken one campus paper with a small circulation and helped students shape it into the district-wide publication that it is currently, but she has also help sculpt students into the people they are today.
"I blame it all on Royce Walker," grinned Taleen Washington, faculty adviser for student publications at the University of Houston Clear Lake. "One day I walked into the office of the San Jacinto Times newspaper looking for a part-time job and left a year and a half later on a whole new career path."
Washington, a student at the Central campus at the time, had no intentions of becoming a journalist; she just thought the newspaper office would be a fun and convenient part-time job while she attended classes.
"Royce became my teacher, then my mentor and later my friend and colleague," Washington said. "I am forever indebted to Royce Walker for pointing me down my chosen path and making sure that I walked a straight line while on it."
Washington said she was really going to miss working with Walker as part of the two plus two transfer plan in place between the two colleges.
"Royce's students are continually the ones who come into the UHCL communication program with the strongest skills," Washington said. "Back when I was an editor under her tutelage, she loved to tell us that 'only the strong survive' her program; I see that she held that philosophy till the end."
Walker has always instilled the basic and valuable fundamentals that journalists live by in order to create a honest name for themselves, along with allowing her students to run with their ideas, experience whether their idea was great or whether it was mistake.
"(Walker) is always fair, and has always shown both sides of an issue, but when it comes to an editorial, it is the students opinions," Good said. "They put their name on it, they take responsibility for it, and she's never backed away from it."
Bill Frazier, long-time colleague and art professor, remembers a situation that occurred some time ago where it was solely the students' opinions that created havoc for the newsroom. The staff at the time was politically and socially conservative. He explained that they were pro-life, and that they were writing a "flammatory" editorial in the paper.
"I blame it all on Royce Walker," grinned Taleen Washington, faculty adviser for student publications at the University of Houston Clear Lake. "One day I walked into the office of the San Jacinto Times newspaper looking for a part-time job and left a year and a half later on a whole new career path."
Washington, a student at the Central campus at the time, had no intentions of becoming a journalist; she just thought the newspaper office would be a fun and convenient part-time job while she attended classes.
"Royce became my teacher, then my mentor and later my friend and colleague," Washington said. "I am forever indebted to Royce Walker for pointing me down my chosen path and making sure that I walked a straight line while on it."
Washington said she was really going to miss working with Walker as part of the two plus two transfer plan in place between the two colleges.
"Royce's students are continually the ones who come into the UHCL communication program with the strongest skills," Washington said. "Back when I was an editor under her tutelage, she loved to tell us that 'only the strong survive' her program; I see that she held that philosophy till the end."
Walker has always instilled the basic and valuable fundamentals that journalists live by in order to create a honest name for themselves, along with allowing her students to run with their ideas, experience whether their idea was great or whether it was mistake.
"(Walker) is always fair, and has always shown both sides of an issue, but when it comes to an editorial, it is the students opinions," Good said. "They put their name on it, they take responsibility for it, and she's never backed away from it."
Bill Frazier, long-time colleague and art professor, remembers a situation that occurred some time ago where it was solely the students' opinions that created havoc for the newsroom. The staff at the time was politically and socially conservative. He explained that they were pro-life, and that they were writing a "flammatory" editorial in the paper.
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