UW to remember professor
November 29, 2006
The Department of Communication will honor former assistant professor Deborah Kaplan with a memorial service this afternoon.
[HTML_REMOVED] [HTML_REMOVED]Memorial service for Deborah Kaplan, former assistant professor of communication
[HTML_REMOVED] [HTML_REMOVED]4 p.m. today, The Simpson Center in the Communications Building
[HTML_REMOVED]Kaplan died of a heart attack Nov. 12. She was 53.
Colleagues remember Kaplan as a compassionate listener who was serious about her research and the craft of journalism.
"With Deb, whenever you were talking to her you found yourself talking about making the world a better place [HTML_REMOVED] not just in dreams, but in real ways," said David Silver, a former assistant professor of communication. "She was brilliant and yet she was hysterical. "
From her students, Kaplan demanded a level of engagement that is rarely seen in colleges today, Silver said.
"I think she cared a lot more about her students and the world than self-promotion," he said.
Kaplan worked as a reporter for the Detroit Free Press from 1985 to 1989, and then as a news editor at the Metro Times, an alternative weekly in Detroit.
She earned her doctoral degree in mass communications from the University of North Carolina in 2005.
At the time of her death, Kaplan was working on a book about the interaction of politics, homelessness and the media in Phoenix, Ariz.
"She had a remarkable vision regarding American journalism and what she wanted to offer the students here as far as really getting close to your subjects, the way she did with her coverage of homelessness," said Karen Rathe, a lecturer in the communication department. "She took those literary journalism techniques of the '60s and really applied them to the social problems of today."
Tomorrow's service will include speeches from Kaplan's colleagues as well as friends and former students, said Gerald Baldasty, chair of the communication department.
Comments students have submitted about her will be displayed during the program.
Reporter Melissa Santos: melissasantos@thedaily.washington.edu
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