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K-State Today

November 28, 2018

Retirement reception Nov. 29 for Bill Adams, Vern Wirka

Submitted by A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications

The A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications will honor Bill Adams and Vern Wirka at a retirement reception from 3-5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29, in the Dole Hall lobby. Brief remarks will be made at 4 p.m.

Adams began working at K-State in 1985 and will retire in 2019. He won the William Stamey Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching twice and the Cruise Palmer Professor Award. His primary research interests are programming decisions, viewing patterns and program content in television; media software; and the law, PhotoShop and computer art. He has taught programming theory, research methods, media history, photography, and media and criticism. He also served on more than 70 master's degree committees.

Wirka began at K-State in 2011 and will retire in December. His background is in radio broadcasting, and he has served as the faculty adviser and chief operator for KSDB-FM, the student-managed and operated radio station at K-State, and also as faculty adviser of K-State's Amateur Radio Club. He worked in the industry for 25 years prior to entering academia in the 1990s. He has a Master of Arts in communication from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and his interest in media law lead to a Juris Doctor from Taft Law School in Santa Ana, California.

The reception is open to anyone who wishes to honor Adams and Wirka.