Ron Farrar reflects on Jon's tenure at USC and his courageous battle with cancer

by Dr. Ron Farrar

Dr. Jon P. Wardrip, an advertising professor and a senior member of the faculty since 1986, died the night of August 25th, 2005.

He had been ill for some time, periods of remission followed by relapses. His condition worsened earlier in the year, and he had been on medical leave since January. During the summer, he announced his retirement.

He remained optimistic, however, and his doctors and his friends marveled at his spirit.

If he had chosen to look back—though probably he didn't—he could have reflected on a great many achievements over his long and stellar career.

Perhaps he would have been proudest of a one steadfast plank in his teaching philosophy: that is, his belief that advertising students should be connected not only to the classroom but to the real world outside. This professionalism permeated his lectures, and especially his Maymester class where he would take a dozen or more of his students to New York for extensive briefings from blue-chip ad agencies and media outlets.

"He developed a course that literally changed people's lives," said a longtime friend and colleague, Prof. Bonnie Drewniany, of the New York experience.

Recognizing this, Dr. Wardrip's grateful colleagues wanted to make sure the class, and the Wardrip tradition, continued. They kicked in enough money to begin an endowment to provide scholarship money for deserving USC ad students who might not be able to afford the New York trip otherwise. A delegation of USC faculty presented the scholarship to Dr. Wardrip at his bedside in mid-August. Members of his family called it the finest retirement gift imaginable.

Dr. Wardrip came to the University from Texas Tech, where he had taught advertising, and served a couple of terms as head of the advertising division, since 1974. Prior to that he was an assistant professor at the University of Texas, this while completing his doctorate. His master's degree is from the University of Iowa. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Arizona, where he was tapped for Phi Beta Kappa.

But long before he entered the academy, Dr. Wardrip racked up solid professional credentials, including six years at Armstrong World Industries, where he was a marketing analyst, consumer advertising research supervisor, and coordinator of the company's in-house agency. Among much else, these duties brought him into close contact with the company's outside agency, BBDO, and other top-of-the-line advertising and national media companies. These experiences and professional ties would serve him—and the thousands of students he would teach—well over the years.

On a faculty where strong teaching is routinely expected, he excelled, soon earning the respect of his colleagues and the appreciation of his students. Each year the Mortar Board, an honorary comprised of perhaps the ablest women undergraduates, presents trophy cups to the top professors on the campus. Dr. Wardrip received six of these coveted awards. Each year, too, the Division of Student Affairs asks graduating seniors at the University to recognize a professor who had "Made a Difference" to them along the way. Dr. Wardrip first got this recognition, a letter of thanks, in 1989. He got similar letters every year after that.

Even more challenging than classroom teaching, possibly, is supervision of the School's American Advertising Federation competition team, which goes head-to-head in a district which includes all the colleges and universities in North and South Carolina and Virginia. These hand-picked students, along with their coach, spend literally hundreds of hours (most of them at night and on weekends) developing an advertising campaign for a national sponsor. Supervising the Ad Team, a harshly demanding assignment, is rotated among the Ad faculty. Dr. Wardrip's team won the district title in 1986, 1988 and 1992. Those teams went on to compete for the national championship, placing seventh, fifth and third, respectively, against the best the country had to offer.

Showings such as this are one of the reasons USC's advertising sequence enjoys a national reputation. Ad Age, the industry's leading trade journal, evaluates university advertising programs from time to time, placed USC eighth in the country in one such survey. U. S. News & World Report also ranked the ad program twelfth, making it one of only three on the entire USC campus to place in the top fifteen.

Dr. Wardrip won other awards, too, including two fellowships from the American Advertising Federation, a Provost's creative instructional grant, three more campus awards for teaching innovation.

Colleagues remember Dr. Wardrip's hard work and thoroughness. Did he ever come to class unprepared? Ever? one of them was asked. "Unthinkable," was the reply. "Never happened." Nor could anybody remember him leaving the office early. Long after most professors had gone home for the night, the lights in Jon Wardrip's office burned bright as he attacked another set of examination papers or pored over the voluminous reading a first-rate teacher should do to stay atop the job.

He spent countless out-of-class hours chatting privately with his students, often on topics other than advertising.

"Jon sometimes would quietly inform a student about what was appropriate behavior and what was appropriate clothing in a professional office," recalls another close friend and former colleague, Dr. John Lopiccolo. "Students would later say that what Dr. Wardrip told them in private about office conduct had meant more to them than anything else."

As his condition worsened, Dr. Wardrip spent more and more time at the South Carolina Oncology Associates treatment center, where his cheerfulness and determination won him the admiration of his doctors and nurses, even the most hard-bitten among them. "He lights up the room whenever he comes in," one nurse said. "He is the most upbeat patient we have," said his senior attending physician, Dr. Tripp Jones.

Also one of the most resourceful. Dr. Lopiccolo, who frequently drove his friend to the treatment center, tells this story:

"When Jon went in for radiation one day the machines were off because of a power outage. The second time it happened, he told the medical staff they should write SCE&G—tell them the patients needed the treatment and were being put at risk. Mention the possibility of a class-action lawsuit, he said.

"Well, a letter signed by doctors and technicians was sent and SCE&G hastily replied that they had found an underpowered transformer causing the outage, and that the problem was now corrected. The staff sent Jon a potted plant for his advice."

Throughout his long and brutally difficult illness, Dr. Wardrip was sustained by his wife, Dorothy—herself a heroine to all who know her.

And by their children, Sara and Matt, both of whom now live in Washington. Matt is an executive with USAirways. Sara is on the White House staff. Both were with their father when he died.

Dr. Wardrip grew up in Wisconsin and cherished his memories of that state. He remained an enthusiastic fan of the Wisconsin Badgers, and has been known to wear a Cheesehead hat while watching the Green Bay Packers on television.

This spring, he got another honor. It grew out of his splendid teaching at the University of South Carolina, though the University itself had nothing directly to do with it. He was invited back to his home town and inducted into the Racine High School Hall of Fame. Given his condition, the trip was especially difficult—his brother delivered Dr. Wardrip's acceptance speech for him—but the award may have meant more to him emotionally than any other.

Even so, South Carolina had become home for him and his close-knit family. Both Matt and Sara earned their degrees from USC. He himself was deeply attached to the University, its campus and its Gamecocks.

He especially loved the people in the Coliseum. And for them—the faculty and staff, the students—the feeling was mutual.

Ron Farrar was a member of the faculty and administration of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications from 1986 until his retirement in 2001.