Dr. Mike Sweeney, long-time faculty member, dies after battle with cancer
Professor Emeritus of Journalism Michael Sweeney passed away at his home Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022, after an eight-year battle with cancer. His wife, Carolyn, and their son, David, were by his side.
Dr. Sweeney was a dedicated faculty member in the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism for 12 years until the progression of his cancer made him physically unable to continue teaching and he retired in March 2021.
Mike made significant and life-changing contributions to the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism and served many years in leadership positions, including being the graduate director.
Dr. Sweeney was a veteran newspaper journalist, book author and former editor of Journalism History, the oldest journal of mass media history in the United States. His scholarly works have been cited more than 400 times.[1] He was an experienced media source in which he gave numerous media interviews regarding his expertise in U.S. wartime censorship.
Despite his medical challenges, Mike still astounded us with his prolific teaching, research and service activity. Shortly before his retirement Dr. Sweeney co-authored a book published in December 2019, which won the 2020 top paper award in the AEJMC History Division and was a "Book of the Year" finalist with American Journalism Historians Association (AJHA). In a September 2021 Facebook post, he excitedly announced his latest book would be published in 2022. He wrote:
“Sweeney's very last book, NBC Goes to War, is in press. It is the diary of NBC correspondent James Cassidy, who covered the European Theater from July to New Year's Eve 1944. It previously was unknown except to Cassidy's daughter, who kept it in her closet and hoped that one day she might see it in print. A little historian's detective work alerted me that Cassidy kept a diary, and a little online research put me in touch with his daughter in Arizona. I cold-called her in spring 2020. After introducing myself, I nervously asked her, "I read somewhere that he kept a diary. Do you know anything about it." She paused and said, "I have it." CHA-CHING!”
As Ohio University’s 2018 Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award recipient, Dr. Sweeney delivered the keynote address at the 2019 Graduate Commencement, a speech most of us thought at the time would be his “last lecture” after being diagnosed with cancer in 2014. During his memorable speech, Sweeney had the audience join him in performing a Bob Dylan impersonation of “you’ve gotta serve somebody.”[2] Last April, Mike was featured in a podcast series, produced by Dr. Bob Stewart, former school director, in which he reflected on the lessons he learned living with cancer.[3]
“Mike was a great advocate and role model for graduate students in the Scripps School,” said Stewart. “His love of teaching, research and mentoring was unparalleled. Scripps and the entire journalism academic community has lost a great treasure of a person. I am broken hearted.”
My heart is broken, too.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Journalism Historians Association Graduate Student Convention Travel Fund in honor of Michael S. Sweeney.
[1] Google Scholar, “Michael S. Sweeney.” https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kJeKhjEAAAAJ&hl=en.
[2] 2019 Graduate Commencement Ceremony, May 3, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv9K3fmZ5_0.
[3] Stewart, Bob, “Conversations with Mike Sweeney,” April 2021. https://anchor.fm/mikesweeneytalks/episodes/The-Last-Lecture-2019-OU-Graduate-Commencement-address-etpkjl