The Visual Communication Conference – Photo of Yosemite from NPS.GOV
Former UNM administrator succumbs to COVID-19
By Matthew Reisen / Journal Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, April 2nd, 2020 at 6:04pm
Updated: Thursday, April 2nd, 2020 at 10:29pm
One of the “brightest stars” in the world of academic journalism has gone out.
Bob Tiemens, a pioneer of visual journalism and former chairman at the University of New Mexico, died from complications of COVID-19 on Monday in a Colorado Springs Hospital.
Hello everyone!
A note of community camaraderie
In unity and friendship
With gratitude and compassion
For loss and love
Bob – you will be missed.
As I am more physically isolated
I stand in solidarity,
in sadness,
& in stride
With my history and memories of VisCom.
Take care friends.
All good things,
mark
Hi All,
My first Viscom was also the infamous #3 – Park City. Bob had me help with an experiment about persistence of vision, whether colors mixed, when they changed. . . It was my first year and I wasn’t totally sure what we were doing, so Bob had me deliver the findings. It went great, I met people I still consider friends and it serves as an example of a true community of scholars. As Ken said, true community rather than simply a gaggle of academics.
Hi everyone,
I thought for years that what Bob and Herb had created was a community of scholars. As I read your condolences, I realize that they had really created a community of friends despite any separation created by time, distance and life changes. I believe Bob would be pleased with a legacy of bringing so many of us together and of knowing how much we miss not just him, but each other. I always thought that he was the greatest class act I had ever met.
Condolences to you all. It has been so long since I first met you in 2005,and I only made it to two or three VisComm camps in all these years, but they were impactful enough that I think of you all as my extended academic-family. Any sorrow reverberates.
Jaleen
(soon to be announced new Asst Prof at RISD)
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
My first VisComm. My lasting VisComm memory. Bob and Herb and Ginny and pregnant Georgette playing pictionary by the indoor pool as I entered the conference venue in Park City. It was my first academic conference. My department chair saw the announcement and recommended I go. Bob was a gentleman. Man, could he offer insight to a work-in-progress. I am hearing his laugh, and I am remembering all that I can.
Robert Kent Tiemens (Ph.D., University of Iowa) passed away from complications associated with COVID-19 on March 30, 2020 in a Colorado Springs Hospital at the age of 84.
Professor Tiemens was recruited away from Wayne State University in 1972 to become Professor and Division Director of Journalism & Mass Communication in the newly configured Department of Communication at the University of Utah. He was a leading pioneer in the fledging area of film/television production research. His seminal studies on camera angle and screen placement influences on viewers’ perceptions established the University of Utah as a major research program that attracted graduate students from across the country. He established a close working relationship with television production theorist Herbert Zettl of San Francisco State University that led to a highly acclaimed program of research that resulted in a wide array of ground breaking studies. Dr. Tiemens’ graduate students went on to establish programs of visual communication research at Temple University, Concordia University, Ohio State University and University of Georgia, among others. He founded the annual Vis Comm Conference that continues to present. A highly talented academic administrator, he served as Department Chair at both the University of Utah and the University of New Mexico.
I am crying, too, Herb.
And I take the liberty to post this page proof from VCQ 21.1 when I edited VCQ so you can see Larry Mullen’s article about how Bob and Herb created a place that nurtured so many of us and continues to do that for so many others.
Berkley Hudson, Ph.D.
Trouble & Resilience in the American South
TIME Essay on Race
Kemper Teaching Fellow (2015)
UM System President’s Award (2017)
Associate Professor, Emeritus, Magazine & Journalism Studies
Missouri School of Journalism
321B Lee Hills, Columbia, MO 65211 O: 573.882.4201 C: 573.356.9271
Bob T was one of my professors at the University of Utah where I completed my PhD. The first time I met him he was the professor who gave “the talk,” about the rigor of the PhD program—he even did the look to your left, look to your right speech to see who may or may not graduate. His class was my very first PhD course and he was one of the first professors at the U who saw my potential. Through his teaching and guidance he helped advance my writing and critical thinking. He retired to the same city where I grew up, so I remember how great it was to introduce him to my parents. He was a big influence in my life and welcomed me into the fold at VisCom, but most of all he was extremely kind and an excellent mentor. I will miss him dearly.