Gordon A. Sabine papers

Record Group

Identifier: UA-17.219

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection is composed of seven folders of writings by Gordon A. Sabine. The writings range in date from 1955-1970 and cover topics such as the teaching of journalism, the Michigan State University admissions program, and the development of MSU as a major university. There is one folder specifically dealing with G.I. Project MEMO, two folders of writings and speeches dealing with MSU, and four folders of materials dealing with Sabine’s professional writings in education and journalism.

Dates

Creation: 1955 - 1970

Creator

Sabine, Gordon A. (Donor, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from this collection must be obtained from University Archives & Historical Collections, Michigan State University.

Biographical Note

Gordon A. Sabine received his B.A. degree in 1939 and M.A. degree in Journalism in 1941 from the University of Wisconsin. He then received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota in 1949. Before becoming Dean of the School of Journalism at the University of Oregon from 1950-1955, Sabine worked for several newspapers including the Milwaukee Journal, Chicago Sun, Christian Science Monitor, an the Kansas City Star. Sabine also held teaching positions at the University of Kansas, University of Minnesota, and University of Oregon. He joined the Michigan State University faculty in 1955 as Dean of the College of Communication Arts. He became the Vice President for special projects in 1960. Sabine held the first post-doctoral research fellowship awarded by the American College Testing Program (ACTP) of Iowa City, Iowa. He took a one year leave of absence in 1970-1971 to do research and write for this fellowship, producing two books: When You Listen, This is What You Can Hear and How Students Rate Their Schools and Teachers.

In July 1971, Sabine stepped down from the position of VP for special projects to become a professor in the Department of Communication. In 1972, Sabine left MSU to become the director of the School of Journalism at the University of Iowa.

One of the projects run by Sabine while at MSU was the GI Project MEMO. For this project, MSU acted as a clearinghouse to help recruit soldiers to attend college when their tours of duty were complete. Sabine was a member of a team of 30 educators who traveled to Vietnam in the holiday season of 1969-1970 to encourage soldiers’ participation in the program.