五十年过去了，他是不列颠哥伦比亚省的冠军
她的生活新闻课程, 24岁的伊莎贝尔·波特写了一篇唐纳德·菲什曼的简介, a Communication faculty member who has taught at 电子游戏软件 for five decades. 她的文章经过改编和编辑.
温暖的, 有爱心的, 慷慨的, 重要的, 勤劳的, 幽默的, 真正的, 聪明的, 受尊敬的人, BC通讯公司的欧比旺·克诺比, 是系里的灵魂人物, 有远见的, 坚定的, 友好的, 很好的人.
唐纳德•菲什曼副教授, wrapping up his 51st year on the Communication Department faculty, 赢得了所有这样的荣誉, 据他的同事和学生说.
“唐是这个校园里的冠军,89岁的克里斯汀·卡斯韦尔说, a former Fishman student who is now assistant to the department chair and director of the Communication internship program. “他是不列颠哥伦比亚省所知道的最勤奋的工人之一.”
在任何一个学期, 据菲什曼估计, he teaches between 80 and 100 students; over the course of his career, 他塑造了大约10个人的思想和心灵,50个毕业班的000名校友, teaching subjects ranging from mass communication to public speaking to crisis communication, 以及介于两者之间的一切.
Fishman has been a 重要的 figure in the growth of communication from a tripartite department that also included speech and theater, 在校学生约80人, into a standalone program that is consistently among the University’s top 10 popular majors.
“他很早就是一个重要的成员, and he has played pretty much every role that there is in the department,长期的同事Lisa Cuklanz教授说. “Don is a central member of the direction that the department is taking.”
He’s also contributed to the field of communication itself, 发表过关于诽谤法等主题的文章, 国会程序, 危机沟通理论, serving as vice president of the Eastern Communication Association and chairing its task force on the Status of Interest Groups, 并在议会程序委员会工作. His professional honors include a Haiman Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Freedom of Expression, a Phifer Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Parliamentary Procedure, and an O’Neill Award for the Top Paper in Freedom of Speech Commission at the National Communication Association Convention.
尽管取得了这么大的成功，菲什曼并没有满足于已有的成就. He brings the same energy, passion, and care to students, colleagues, and the BC community each day. 随着通信世界的发展, Fishman的承诺一直坚定不移, 即使是在困难的个人环境下. 当他的妻子Joyce Lindmark, who worked with BC’s debate program and taught in the department, 2021年得了重病, 他帮助她上课. 在林德马克于2022年秋天去世后, Fishman declined his colleagues’ offer to step in on his behalf and kept teaching.
“在大学, 有很多大班, and it can be hard to feel like teachers know you as a person, 或者你了解他们的为人. 但他努力去认识每一个人. 他知道我们所有人的名字，一定要去拜访我们. 这是我的最爱之一.”
这是学年里一个典型的周一下午, Fishman can be found walking into Lyons 202 for his section of Survey of Mass Communication with a black briefcase—now gray from its many years of use—and manilla folders, 装满了考试准备材料.
“我喜欢待在教室里, 我被它激励着,菲什曼说, who has been assistant chair of the department since 2010 and served two terms as chair. “我喜欢这种互动. I always learn something from the students; the world changes very quickly.”
在听到同学们说这是一门“必修课”后，她说,” junior Kate Pulgini took Survey of Mass Communication and although she considered it daunting at first, found Fishman’s “cold calling”—soliciting comments from students with whom he’d had no prior contact—created a positive experience. “在大学里, 有很多大班, and it can be hard to feel like teachers know you as a person, 或者你了解他们的为人. 但他努力去认识每一个人. 他知道我们所有人的名字，一定要去拜访我们. 这是我的最爱之一.”
“我必须知道每个人的名字，”菲什曼说. 在他之前的课程中, he taught groups of 150 students; although he is still able to learn each student’s name, 他发现现在缺乏亲密感. “你不会有同样的感觉.”
Pulgini’s sentiment runs in the family: Her older brother Jack ’22 and mother Dierdre ’90 experienced this same passion and encouragement in Fishman’s Public Speaking course. Jack—who had to take the class via Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic—recalls how Fishman made everybody feel comfortable and excited for class amidst trying and isolating times. “He always found something good to say and really paid attention to everybody’s work.”
Fishman’s contagious passion for communication sprouted from his own college experience, 尤其是他对辩论的参与. He was active on the University of Minnesota debate team and was the assistant debate coach at Northwestern University while a graduate student, helping lead the team to a national championship (it was also through debate that Fishman met Lindmark, 然后是一位辩论巡回法官). BC’s impressive debate legacy helped steer him to the Heights.
“我感觉就像在家里一样，”菲什曼说.
“他的课很有挑战性，”74岁的罗伯特·罗森塔尔回忆道. “他比我年轻，而且很有幽默感. He was really cutting-edge in terms of his understanding of theory. Very bright guy, good teacher, and very interactive in the cold call.”
“我们希望我们的学生有能力, 我们希望他们成为优秀的思考者, 我们希望他们一路走来都是好人.”
一次在BC, 菲什曼孜孜不倦地学习沟通课程, helping institute its internship program and encouraging majors to pursue occupations in the field for credit, and working to create an honors program for the department’s most elite students.
在这些和其他的变化中, 菲什曼说, questions arose about the direction of the communication program: Should it continue to be grouped with the theater program? Should some communication classes be taught by other schools or departments? Or should it be completely reconfigured as a standalone program in the College of Arts and Sciences? 菲什曼是后一种选择的强烈倡导者, and he strengthened the department’s public relations and advertising components, working to add curricula such as interpersonal communication. He also was a key asset in bolstering pre-existing programs to meet the needs of the ever-changing field and establishing BC’s chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, 全国通信荣誉协会.
Seeing advanced composition as a necessary skill set for students, Fishman took the lead in constructing a two-course writing-intensive requirement for all majors. He also was instrumental in the creation of the department’s media lab in Lyons Hall, providing students with the tools necessary to work in an increasingly digitized age, 他一直在倡导创新.
“互联网改变了社会的本质，”他说. “美国的数字化是真实的. People are going to have to adjust, and you see the landscape changing.”
对菲什曼, 只有日复一日的胜利才能证明成功, 但不仅仅是他的部门和它所服务的学生.
“我们希望我们的学生有能力, 我们希望他们成为优秀的思考者, 我们希望他们一路走来都是好人.”