REDDICK, DEWITT CARTER (1904–1980). DeWitt Carter Reddick, journalism professor, was born in Savannah, Georgia, on July 30, 1904, the son of Walter Newton and Frances (Westermann) Reddick. With his brother, mother, and maternal grandmother he moved to Fort Worth in the spring of 1905. The family faced many hardships, and both boys began working at the age of five. Their grandmother and mother died within a year of each other, and the two boys essentially supported themselves and put themselves through college. Reddick earned a B.J. from the University of Texas in 1925, a master's degree in government in 1928, and a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri in 1939. From 1924 to 1926 he was a reporter on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Austin American (see AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN), and from 1927 to 1931 he was a part-time correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. He became an instructor in journalism at the University of Texas in 1927 and, among many other titles, was associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, 1956–59; director of the School of Journalism, 1959–64; director of the School of Communication, 1965–67; and dean of the College of Communication, 1967–69. He was made professor of journalism in 1970 and retired as professor emeritus in 1975. He also held teaching and administrative positions at Columbia Graduate School, the University of Tennessee, and Austin College. He was director and founder of the Interscholastic League Press Conference and an advisor to the educational council of National Business Publications. He was chairman of the accrediting committee of the American Council on Education for Journalism from 1962 to 1964. Reddick wrote many books, including Journalism and the School Paper (1938 and five subsequent editions), Modern Feature Writing (1949), and Industrial Editing (with Alfred Crowell, 1962). He edited Guideposts to Youth (1943) and Campus and Church (1955). He married Marjorie Alice Bryan on June 20, 1934, and they had two children. Reddick died at home on August 22, 1980.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frances V. N. Lewis, DeWitt Carter Reddick: Communicator (M.A. thesis, University of Texas at Austin, 1967). DeWitt Carter Reddick Papers, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
