Words, music celebrate Sandra's life

More than 300 people attended a memorial service for Sandra Haarsager, professor of journalism and mass media, Thursday evening at the University of Idaho’s Administration Building auditorium.

The audience included students, faculty, deans, vice presidents and friends from across the community. Former Idaho Sen. James McClure, a member of the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences Advancement Council, also attended.

They heard tributes to Sandra from UI President Timothy White, long-time friend Mindy Cameron, Sandra’s stepdaughter, Jennie Haarsager-Lieske, and the Rev. Kayle Rice, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse.

“Sandra epitomized all that is worthy and right about the University of Idaho, about our community, and about humanity,” President White said in his eulogy. “She did so through her unwavering dedication to students first, to music and the arts, academics, journalism, women’s studies, administration, and relations with our stakeholders, constituents, and friends.”

Music by UI jazz choirs and several instrumental ensembles provided interludes between the verbal remembrances. A highlight was Jon Anderson’s performance of a song,“Take Your Time,” composed by Jon to lyrics written by Sandra. Music before and after the service came from a CD of jazz standards, folk songs and show tunes that Sandra herself had recorded.

Today’s Argonaut includes remembrances of Sandra. In response to suggestions from friends and former colleagues, the JAMM faculty hopes to create a scholarship in her name. Watch for details here.

Journalism Professor Sandra Haarsager dies

Sandra Haarsager, a faculty member at the University of Idaho since 1988 and a cornerstone of the School of Journalism and Mass Media since its founding in 2003, died Saturday, Oct. 6, at Gritman Medical Center in Moscow. Sandra had been hospitalized for two days with a respiratory condition that developed as a result of her treatment for cancer of the esophagus. She was 61.

Although she had been on sabbatical this semester working on a book about new media technology, Sandra had been a regular visitor to campus, most recently a week before she was admitted to the hospital. She had planned to return to a full teaching schedule in the spring of 2008.

Sandra had worked as a reporter for The Idaho Statesman in Boise and a reporter and general manager for the Idahonian, now the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. She also had been director of information services for the University of Idaho under President Richard Gibb.

She became a faculty member of the former School of Communication in 1988 and earned a Ph.D. in American Studies from Washington State University in 1990. From 1999 to 2005, she was associate dean of the UI’s College of Letters and Science, which became the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences in 2003. She played a major role in decisions to reorganize the School of Communication into the School of Journalism and Mass Media.

Sandra’s teaching portfolio included both skills and conceptual courses. Most recently, she had taught Reporting, Public Affairs Reporting, Literary Journalism, Mass Media & Culture, and Media Management & Economics.

A memorial service will begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, at the University Auditorium. Sandra was a trusted colleague, valuable mentor and longtime friend. We’ll miss her. I invite her former students to leave comments below.