HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Dr. Arthur J. Kaul, a popular University of Southern Mississippi journalism professor widely recognized for his scholarly and professional contributions to his field, died at his home here Tuesday. He was 62.

Services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday, May 5 at St. John Lutheran Church in Hattiesburg, with visitation set for Sunday, May 4 from 5-8 p.m. at the church. Interment will be in Roseland Park. Moore Funeral Home of Hattiesburg is in charge of arrangements.

A native of St. Louis, Kaul joined the Southern Miss faculty in 1984. A respected lecturer and active academic leader, he was chosen for the University Excellence in Teaching Award in 1989 and served on the university’s faculty senate, including as its president.

Active in his church and community, he was a member of St. John Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Southern District Board of Directors and a member of the Hattiesburg Historic Neighborhood Association. 

“He was absolutely the best teacher I ever had, and an invaluable colleague,” said Dr. Chris Campbell, one of Kaul’s former students who serves as director of the Southern Miss School of Mass Communication and Journalism. “He is irreplaceable.”

Kaul earned his undergraduate degree in English and psychology from Central Methodist College in Fayette, Mo., a master’s in humanities from Western Kentucky University, where he taught before coming to Southern Miss, and master’s and doctoral degrees in journalism from Southern Illinois University. His primary research areas included mass communication history, media ethics and literary journalism.

Prior to entering academia, he worked as a reporter and education writer for daily newspapers in Kentucky and Missouri.

“He made journalism history come alive with his animated lectures, taught ethics in a manner students could understand and trained future reporters by taking students to city hall, teaching them how to research public documents and ask the appropriate questions,” said his longtime colleague, Southern Miss professor of journalism Dr. Gene Wiggins. “In summary, he was the ideal teacher of journalism.

“He was my very good friend and it will be hard to imagine journalism at Southern Miss without him.”
Kaul served as a member of the Professional Freedom and Responsibility Committee (1992-95) of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. He also served on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Mass Media Ethics, edited “American Literary Journalists, 1945-1995, Volume 185, Dictionary of Literary Biography” (1997) and published approximately 35 articles, essays and reviews in books, scholarly journals and encyclopedias. 

His most recent publications were chapters in “The Press and Race: Mississippi Journalists Confront the Movement” (University Press of Mississippi, 2001); “Illusive Shadows: Justice, Media and Socially Significant American Trials” (Praeger, 2003); and “Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century” (Harvard University Press, 2004).
Kaul directed approximately 20 doctoral dissertations, including the winner of the Margaret A. Blanchard Prize for the best dissertation on mass communication history produced in 2004. 
He was an avid reader of poetry and also a published poet.

“Dr. Kaul's passing is a significant loss for the university and incredibly sad for those of us fortunate enough to know him,” said Southern Miss alumna Lisa Easterling of New Orleans, also a former student of Kaul’s.  “But by having touched so many lives and careers in his two-plus decades at Southern Miss, the principles he believed in will live on.”

Survivors include his wife Nancy Kaul, an associate professor and collection development coordinator for University Libraries at Southern Miss; a son, Stephen Kaul of Long Beach, Miss.; his mother, Beulah Kaul of Alton, Ill.; three brothers, Jonathon Kaul of Bunker Hill, Ill.; Daniel Kaul of Bethalto, Ill; and Luther Kaul of Evansville, Ind.

Memorials may be made to the University of Southern Mississippi Foundation’s Art Kaul Memorial Fund to support mass communication doctoral students in the dissertation phase of their program; or to St. John Lutheran Church’s Music Program, 2001 Hardy St., Hattiesburg, Miss. 39401.

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The University of Southern Mississippi, founded in 1910, is a comprehensive doctoral and research-extensive university fulfilling its mission of being a leading university in engaging and empowering individuals to transform lives and communities.  In a tradition of leadership for student development, Southern Miss is educating a 21st century work force providing intellectual capital, cultural enrichment and innovation to Mississippi and the world.  Southern Miss is located in Hattiesburg, Miss., with an additional campus and teaching and research sites on the Mississippi Gulf Coast; further information is found at www.usm.edu.