{{short description|American journalist & academic (1919–2010)}} {{Infobox person | name = Evan Hill | image = Evan Hill, Professor of Journalism, University of Connecticut, 1979.jpg | caption = Evan Hill in 1979 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1919|01|20}} | birth_place = Philadelphia, US | death_date = {{Death date and age|2010|04|10|1919|01|20}} | death_place = New London, New Hampshire | alma_mater = Boston University (MS)<br/>Stanford University (BA) | occupation = Journalist, college professor | employer = University of Connecticut }}
'''Evan Hill''' (January 20, 1919 – April 10, 2010) was an American journalist and professor at the University of Connecticut (UConn), where he chaired the journalism department from 1965 to 1984.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=University of Connecticut Archives & Special Collections|date=2010|title=Evan Hill Papers|url=https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/858|access-date=2020-11-06|website=archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu}}</ref> A stern but beloved teacher,<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|date=2010-06-06|title=Evan Hill, A Stern, Beloved Taskmaster|work=The Hartford Courant|url=https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2010-06-06-hc-exlife-evan-hill-0606-20100606-story.html}}</ref> Hill exerted major influence on Connecticut journalism. He mentored many editors and reporters in the region and served as a director and trustee of ''The Day''.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Bass|first=Elissa|date=2010-04-12|title=Evan Hill, mentor to many state journalists, dies at 91|work=The Day (New London)|url=https://www.theday.com/article/20100412/NWS01/304129912|access-date=2020-11-05}}</ref> He authored eight books and 160 magazine articles.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|date=2010-04-14|title=Evan Hill, April 10, 2010|url=https://today.uconn.edu/2010/04/evan-hill-april-10-2010/|access-date=2020-11-06|website=UConn Today|language=en-US}}</ref>
== Early life == Hill was born in Philadelphia on January 20, 1919, to Louis and Marie (Schmeltz) Hill. He had two sisters. He graduated from high school in Bellingham, Washington, where he worked in a drugstore and a cannery while reporting for the local KVOS television station in 1938 and 1939.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|date=2007|title=Evan HIll|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1000045519/LitRC?u=22516&sid=LitRC&xid=cb811007|access-date=2020-11-07|website=Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors}}</ref> Moving to Juneau, Alaska, he worked as a hotel janitor and ''Daily Alaska Empire'' reporter and enlisted in the Alaska National Guard in 1941.<ref name=":1" />
== Military service == When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, Hill deployed to the Pribilof Islands, where he was assigned to watch for Japanese ships.<ref name=":1" /> Bored, he volunteered for combat in Europe, where he served with the 79th Infantry Division in Belgium and France from July to September 1944. Artillery fire shattered his left femur and severed his sciatic nerve in September 1944 near Lunéville. He underwent six major operations and spent four years in and out of California hospitals.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Hill|first=Evan|title=My Memorial Day|work=Saturday Evening Post|url=http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/uploads/satevepost/my_memorial_day.pdf|access-date=2020-11-08}}</ref> He limped for the rest of his life. Hill was discharged with the rank of captain in 1947.<ref name=":1" />
According to his gravestone, Hill received a Bronze Star Medal and a Purple Heart military decoration for his service in World War II.<ref>{{Cite web|title=CPT Evan Hill (1919-2010)|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/216271872/evan-hill|access-date=2020-11-08|website=www.findagrave.com|language=en}}</ref>
== Journalism career == While recuperating, Hill sold his first magazine article, about wounded soldiers, to ''Liberty''. He attended Stanford University on the G.I. Bill, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1948. He moved to Newport, New Hampshire, to serve as editor for the ''Argus Champion'', a semi-weekly newspaper, in 1948 and 1949. He earned his Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University in 1950.<ref name=":1" /> That same year, he won the annual essay contest of the American Newspaper Publishers Association and a Freedoms Foundation award.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|last=University of Connecticut Archives & Special Collections|date=2010|title=Evan Hill Papers|url=https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/858|access-date=2020-11-06|website=archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu}}</ref>
Hill stayed at Boston University teaching journalism until 1956, when he joined the journalism faculty at Ohio State University. A year later he returned to Newport, where he spent seven years as a freelance news reporter and nonfiction magazine writer. His work was published in the ''Saturday Evening Post'', ''Reader's Digest'', ''Redbook'', ''New York Times Magazine'', ''Saturday Review'', ''Yankee'', ''Coronet'', and other periodicals. He was a ghostwriter for prominent pollster George Gallup (''The Secrets of Long Life'', 1960) and several US government officials.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
== University of Connecticut == In 1965, University of Connecticut president Homer Babbidge drove to New Hampshire, showing up unannounced on Hill's doorstep to persuade him to lead the university's fledgling journalism department.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=Breen|first=Tom|date=2016-04-14|title=Extra! Extra! Read (Listen, Watch, and Tweet) All About It!|url=https://today.uconn.edu/2016/04/extra-extra-read-listen-watch-and-tweet-all-about-it/|access-date=2020-11-08|website=UConn Today|language=en-US}}</ref> Hill accepted the position, moved to Storrs, and chaired the department until he retired in 1984.<ref name=":2" /> The department grew steadily under his leadership and thereafter, going from one full-time faculty member in 1965 to ten full-timers and eight part-timers in 2016. As of 2016, UConn's was the only nationally accredited journalism program in New England.<ref name=":4" />
Former students described Hill as a strict, rigorous, respected teacher. He mentored future editors and reporters for major American periodicals; other students became corporate public relations executives. Students included Robert D. Kaplan;<ref name=":1" /> Maureen Croteau, who succeeded Hill as department chair;<ref name=":3" /> and G. Claude Albert, editor of ''The Connecticut Mirror''.<ref name=":4" />
During his tenure, Hill coauthored ''Reporting and Writing the News'' (Little, Brown, 1977) with UConn colleague John Breen. He also consulted for the ''Boston Globe'', the ''Providence Journal'', and the US Office of Science and Technology.<ref name=":6" /> He served on the board of directors of The Day Publishing Company and as a trustee of the Bodenwein Foundation from 1978 to 1989.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />
Hill's papers are held at the UConn Library's Archives & Special Collections. Included are notes and research he compiled about the university's history, as well as his own letters, publications, unpublished manuscripts, biographies of university presidents and alumni, speeches, notebooks, photographs, annual reports, and other miscellany.<ref name=":0" />
== Later life == Following his 1984 retirement, Hill returned to Newport. He stayed active in the community, serving on the public library's board of trustees, the school board, the budget advisory committee, and the planning board. He taught writing to local middle-schoolers in after-school programs and to adults in evening classes. He enjoyed building furniture as a hobby.<ref name=":0" />
Hill continued writing for local papers and the ''Boston Globe'' and compiled a historical chronology of Newport.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hill|first=Evan|date=2007|title=Historical Chronology of Newport, N.H.|url=https://www.newportnh.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif4776/f/uploads/historical_chronology_story.pdf|access-date=2020-11-07|website=Town of Newport}}</ref> He was a member of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.<ref name=":6" />
Hill died from congestive heart failure at the Woodcrest Village assisted living facility in New London, New Hampshire, on April 10, 2010. He was interred at the North Newport Cemetery.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news|date=2010-04-16|title=Hill, Evan|work=The Hartford Courant|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/257387913|access-date=2020-11-07|id={{ProQuest|257387913}}}}</ref>
== Personal life == Hill met his future wife, Priscilla Fiske (1918–2001), of Natick, Massachusetts, at an Alaska dance. She was a US Coast Guard photographer. The couple married on September 21, 1946.<ref name=":1" />
Priscilla Hill died in New London, NH in 2001. Evan Hill was survived by his daughter, Lucinda Hill Hogarty, son Peter Hill, and three grandchildren.<ref name=":5" />
== Publications ==
* Ghostwriter for George Gallup, ''The Secrets of Long Life'' (Geis/Random House, 1960) * Ghostwriter, ''A Life after Death'' (Simon & Schuster, 1963) * ''Beanstalk: The History of Miniature Precision Bearings'' (Keene, NH, 1966) * Coauthored with William F. Stekl, ''The Connecticut River'' (Wesleyan University Press, 1972) * ''The Primary State'': ''A Historical Guide to New Hampshire'' (Countryman Press, 1976) * Coauthored with John Breen, ''Reporting and Writing the News'' (Little, Brown, 1977) * ''A Greener Earth'' (Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, 1977) *''Connecticut's Own University: The First Proud Century, 1881–1981'' (Storrs, CT, 1981)<ref>{{Cite web|last=Rocco|first=Christine|title=Facts About the University of Connecticut since 1881. 2nd edition|url=https://collections.ctdigitalarchive.org/islandora/object/20004:20071529|access-date=2020-11-08|website=collections.ctdigitalarchive.org}}</ref>
== References == <references />
== External links ==
* [https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/858 Evan Hill Papers] - held at the University of Connecticut Archives & Special Collections *[https://alaska.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/414 Evan Hill Photograph Collection] - held at the Alaska State Library Digital Archives *[https://vilda.alaska.edu/digital/collection/cdmg21/id/8427/rec/2 Photograph of Evan Hill as a soldier in 1943] - Alaska State Library
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Evan}} Category:1919 births Category:2010 deaths Category:Boston University alumni Category:Stanford University alumni Category:Journalists from Connecticut Category:American journalism academics Category:American freelance journalists Category:University of Connecticut faculty Category:Ohio State University faculty Category:Boston University faculty Category:United States Army personnel of World War II Category:United States Army officers Category:20th-century American male journalists