Beginning in the spring of 2017, Marshall University’s College of Arts and Media will award the C. Bosworth “Bos” Johnson Memorial Scholarship in honor of the late journalist, Marshall alumnus and professor.
“Whatever my Dad was doing—as news director or journalism professor or public relations executive—he was always teaching,” Dr. Beth Johnson Paulsen, Johnson’s daughter and professor of theology at Columbia Theological Seminary, said. “The best way to remember him is to keep doing what he did.”
Janet Dooley, director of Marshall’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications, said Johnson, who received a Master of Arts from the university in 1969, was a consummate newsperson.
“Bos laid a solid foundation for the development of a broadcast journalism program in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications,” Dooley said. “He brought deep experience and a rich history in the industry.”
Dooley said Johnson, an associate professor of journalism at Marshall from 1976 to 1988, had “that rare combination of being demanding, firm, gentle and likable.”
“I believe he would be proud of how the program has developed,” Dooley said.
“Our family is grateful that, by means of this scholarship, future Marshall students will be able to learn his craft and practice it the way he did,” Paulsen said.
Throughout his career, Johnson received many accolades, including the Preceptor Award from San Francisco State University, the Distinguished Service Award from the Marshall Journalism Alumni Association, the Phil Vogel Memorial Award from the West Virginia Associated Press, the Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the West Virginia Associated Press Lifetime Achievement Award and membership in the inaugural West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
Between his time at Marshall and in leadership roles at WSAZ-TV Huntington-Charleston and Charles Ryan Associates, Johnson taught a list of journalists, ranging from network correspondents such as NBC’s Roger O’Neill and ABC’s Bill Stewart to current national correspondents such as Joe Johns and Sean Callebs, according to Paulsen.
Johnson passed away Nov. 23, 2014, in Huntington at the age of 85.
For more information about the scholarship or the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications, call 304-696-2360.