J-School Faculty Mentors Inspire Alumnus to Give Back

With a matching opportunity from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, Wayne Brasler is doubling the impact of his support for J-School Faculty.

Wayne Brasler, BJ ’62, spent 52 years as the University of Chicago Lab School's journalism teacher and publications advisor, a path that began with his own teachers. Now, through his estate commitment to the Missouri School of Journalism and an unprecedented gift from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, Brasler is ensuring that future generations can learn from great educators like the ones who shaped his J-School experience.

He came to MU as a "totally terrified" junior, away from his home, St. Louis, for the first time. Brasler says that J-School faculty instantly recognized his talent and started guiding him.

"I cannot remember one standard-issue professor at the J-School," he said. "Each was fascinating, and so many changed our lives and futures in ways we never could have imagined."

One way came at the end of Brasler's junior year, after his father suffered a heart attack. Unsure of his future as a student, he visited one of his mentors, Dean Earl English.

"Dean English told me I had to come back, that Mizzou would pay the tuition, that he would get me a job at Ellis Library, and I could pay it all back when I became a millionaire," Brasler recalls.

Two other J-School faculty members were instrumental for Brasler. Paul Fisher (BJ ’46, MA ’47, PhD ’50) directed the Freedom of Information Center and "lit a fire" in Brasler to be "a passionate crusader for media freedom." William Taft (BJ ’38, MA ’39) was a historian, interested in the history of high school education and high school publications in Missouri.

"He was a joyous seeker of the past who caught me up in his enthusiasm," Brasler said. "Little dreamt in my Mizzou years that was my future too."

That future came two years after graduating as Brasler was editing a weekly paper in St. Louis. He received a letter from the University of Chicago Laboratory School's director, who was recruiting a journalism teacher. Brasler hadn't heard of the school, but his was the name the director received when he called the J-School looking for recommendations, thanks in part to Brasler's relationship with Taft.

In time for the 1964-65 school year, Brasler left St. Louis for Chicago and began advising the school's publications. National awards soon came, followed by countless students inspired to pursue journalism. His former pupils include Pulitzer Prize winners, and they have worked at a range of media outlets, including The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, and Vanity Fair. His students learned by doing, just as he did at the J-School.

In 2003 Brasler made an estate commitment to the J-School, focused on student support. Recently, he designated part of his gift to also create a faculty fellowship as part of an extraordinary opportunity, thanks to the Reynolds Foundation.

The foundation has committed $10 million to the J-School to support faculty. This gift will create 50 new endowed $200,000 faculty fellowships. Fellowship earnings will provide funds for salaries, research, and other expenses. These resources will help the J-School attract and retain talented faculty members.

"To have that kind of faculty these days requires enormous resources for any school," Brasler said. "We want the young people who arrive at the J-School to experience the challenge and the joy we experienced from our remarkable teachers."

The Reynolds Foundation gift arrived in 2021. Prior to that, the foundation allowed the J-School to create the positions and offer naming rights for each of the faculty fellowships to donors who commit matching gifts of $200,000. The individual faculty fellowships were established and named for the donors at the time the gifts were made. When the J-School received the Reynolds gift, the positions were elevated to $400,000 Distinguished Faculty Fellowships, thus doubling the impact of donors’ gifts.

"Having the best faculty possible is critical for us to remain competitive and to ensure that our students receive the same world-class training they've had since 1908," said Missouri School of Journalism Dean Dave Kurpius. "The Reynolds Foundation and donors like Wayne are making tremendous, influential investments in the future of the J-School."

As an educator, Brasler knows the difference passionate teachers can make for their students. With his path paved with inspiration from his own teachers, Brasler is glad that his commitment to the J-School will help future students have the same life-changing relationships with faculty members that he did.

"I want in future years that magic still enriching and changing the lives of J-School students, especially those who have no idea such magic can take place, much less will take place," he said.

To learn more about establishing a Reynolds Faculty Fellowship, please contact the J-School's Office of Advancement at 573-882-0334.