Although the change may seem sudden to some, the face of journalism has been changing and growing almost since its inception as an academic pursuit at the University of Oregon. During those first few years, the program indeed focused on the traditional aspects of newspaper journalism; however, in the 1914-15 academic year a single course in advertising was taught by professor Colin Dyment and various members of the Portland Advertising Club. By 1917, professor W.F.G. Thacher of the Department of Rhetoric was teaching "Journalism 106: Advertising" three terms a year.

Thacher had done some publicity and magazine work in Portland before coming to the University of Oregon and had developed a great deal of enthusiasm for advertising as an academic discipline. In a talk he gave at the first annual Oregon Press Conference, held at the School of Journalism in 1919, he described his philosophy this way.

The fundamental quality of every good ad is sincerity—simple, downright honesty. Next to that comes enthusiasm, the quality that makes truth glow and shine.

Thacher went on to build up the advertising sequence to include—besides General Advertising—Advertising Production, Space Selling, Advertising Problems, and Retail Advertising. Through the years, Thacher trained some of the nation's top advertising people, among them Don Belding of Foote, Cone & Belding and George Weber of Cole & Weber.Thacher was also instrumental in bringing to Oregon the two leading professional societies in the advertising field—Alpha Delta Sigma for men and Gamma Alpha Chi for women.

During the crisis of the early 1930s when the school was threatened with closure by the State Board of Higher Education, advertising courses were temporarily dropped from the curriculum; however, after the school was restored to full status, the courses were reinstated. Over the next few years growth in enrollment continued to climb.

After Thacher's retirement, two interim professors held his post until Willard L. Thompson was hired in 1952 to handle the advertising program in both journalism and the School of Business. Thompson served as the primary advertising instructor for five years.

Max Wales, who came to Oregon as an Assistant Professor in 1957 from Michigan State University, became the next head of the program. Wales had more than 20 years experience in advertising including as head of his own agency for seven years. He immediately taught every advertising course the school offered.

About this time, Willis L. Winter was added to the faculty as an instructor in advertising. By 1968, he had become the head of the sequence. His accomplishments in over 20 years on the faculty of the School of Journalism and Communication were practically legendary. He retired from full-time teaching in 1989.

For a number of years, Max Wales was the only professor on the faculty with experience in the field of public relations and taught the few offerings in that area, along with his regular advertising load. When Jack Ewan arrived in 1964, he gradually began to focus on public relations, developing the meager offerings into a full-blown and accredited sequence.

He was responsible for founding the first Public Relations Student Society of America chapter at the University, the first in the Northwest. Until his retirement in 1985, Ewan guided the public relations program in the journalism school to high-profile involvement both regionally and nationally. Dozens of prominent practitioners today owe a great deal of their success to his instruction.