WHEREAS, the Faculty Senate of The University of Alabama wishes to honor the memory of University of Alabama Professor H. Bailey Thomson, an exceptional professor of journalism in the College of Communication and Information Sciences, and to express its gratitude for his leaving irreplaceable gifts to the University, to his profession and to the state of Alabama; and

WHEREAS, to the University Bailey Thomson leaves a legacy of excellence in teaching, research and service that will always be difficult to match. Professor Thomson was a beloved teacher, colleague and mentor, as shown in the eagerness of students and faculty to come forward and express their gratitude for his example and sharing of knowledge. Many of these testimonials can be seen at the website Dateline Alabama at www.datelinealabama.com, created by students in C&IS; and

WHEREAS, Bailey Thomson joined the faculty as the Reese Phifer Visiting Professor of Journalism in 1997. He is called a "difference-maker" by friend and colleague Dr. Culpepper "Cully" Clark, dean of the College of Communication and Information Sciences. Bailey Thomson attained full professor status this year; and

WHEREAS, among Bailey Thomson’s numerous gifts to his department and the University is the Clarence Cason Non-Fiction Writing Award, which is now recognized among the nation’s finest prizes. Previous recipients have included Gay Talese, E.O. Wilson, Howell Raines, Albert Murray, Wayne Flynt, and Diane McWhorter; and

WHEREAS, a twenty-five-year journalist, Bailey Thomson believed passionately that journalism was not simply a profession but a "way of knowing," a way of coming to understand the social world in thoughtful, caring, practical language, as Dr. Clark said in his eulogy delivered at the Nov. 30 Memorial Service in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; and

WHEREAS, for his profession Bailey Thomson left a legacy of excellence in journalistic and editorial writing. In 1994 the Mobile Register published a special section titled "Sins of the Fathers," coordinated, edited and in part written by Bailey Thomson. This section explored Alabama’s social, economic and political problems linked to the state’s 1901 Constitution. It became a finalist for that year’s Pulitzer Prize. In 1999, the American Society of Newspaper Editors presented him its Distinguished Writing Award for his series "Dixie’s Broken Heart," published by the Mobile Register. Runners-up that year were Howell Raines of The New York Times and Paul Greenberg of The Arkansas Gazette. Two years later Bailey Thomson was again a finalist for that award and for the Pulitzer Prize; and

WHEREAS, another of Bailey Thomson’s editorial series, "Century of Shame," won the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association’s Carmage Walls Distinguished Writing Award; and

WHEREAS, to the state of Alabama, Bailey Thomson left a legacy of quiet activism for changes that would benefit all Alabamians; and

WHEREAS, Bailey Thomson had been actively and vigorously working for constitutional reform since 1995. He continued his fight for constitutional reform, and in recent years, was heavily involved with Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform. He also served as editor and contributor to a book of essays published by the University of Alabama Press titled Century of Controversy: Constitutional Reform in Alabama; and

WHEREAS, Bailey Thomson leaves behind wife Kristi, a Brookwood Middle School teacher, and daughter, Sarah, a sophomore at the University, as well as countless friends, faculty and students.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Faculty Senate of The University of Alabama that it extends its heartfelt sympathy to the family of H. Bailey Thomson and its gratitude for the legacies of excellence and activism he leaves to all.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution be included in the permanent minutes of the Faculty Senate.

Unanimously adopted by the Faculty Senate

The University of Alabama

December 9, 2003