Students bring Pollner Prof back to Missoula

By Rachel Cook
J-School Web Reporter

photo by Lizz Rauf

Danny Bobbe interviews Henni Lowisch at Dean Stone Night. A journalist's work is never done.

In the words of J-School Dean Jerry Brown, every guest attending the 50th Annual Dean Stone Awards Banquet was special, but Henriette Lowisch was the “most special.”

Lowisch, who spent the 2006 fall semester as the J-School’s Pollner professor, hails from Berlin and works in Washington D.C. for part of the year. It was Montana Kaimin editor Peter Bulger, a senior in print journalism, who thought of bringing Lowisch to Missoula from Washington to attend the banquet.

“Since she did so much for us in the fall, I wanted to do something for her,” Bulger said. Bulger started thinking about bringing the beloved Pollner professor back for the J-School’s biggest celebration after Eleena Fikhman, a senior photo student and design editor for the Kaimin, returned from a spring break visit to Lowisch in Berlin.

“Eleena told me how much she missed us,” said Bulger, adding that he missed having Lowisch around and was jealous of Fikhman’s visit.
So Bulger announced at a weekly Kaimin meeting that he would be buying a plane ticket to bring Lowisch to Missoula. He invited the rest of the staff to chip in.

“[Being at Dean Stone Night] feels like being part of the most important event,” said Lowisch. “It’s a lot of fun.”  Around her neck, Lowisch wore a silver pendant in the shape of Montana that had been a gift from the journalism faculty when she left in December.

When Brown introduced Lowisch, students rose from their chairs to applaud. Lowisch was greeted by applause again when she took the podium to present several scholarships.

“This is not about me,” she said to hush the audience.

In addition to taking part in the festivities of Dean Stone Night, Lowisch spent time with students shopping and going out. She also helped Bulger with an important wardrobe ritual.

“We bought the Kaimin editor a suit,” Lowisch said, laughing.

Lowisch arrived in Missoula on Thursday, April 26 and departed on Sunday, April 29.  “I think Henni has a really strong presence in our lives,” Fikhman said. “She’s motivated us to be a lot better.”

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