AWC Timeline: 1960s
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During
the ‘60s, Theta Sigma Phi continued to identify new job opportunities for members with articles in The Matrix about setting up a free-lance public relations agency, improving writing craftsmanship and finding literacy markets.
In 1961, Theta Sigma Phi initiated the Talent Sparks Program to recruit promising high school students for communications careers.
Pictured right: Esther Van Wagoner Tufty speaking at a press conference.
Delegates to the 1963 convention learned what the space age could bring to journalism with computer typesetting and news transmission via satellites. As Theta Sigma Phi’s international emphasis continued in the 1960s, The Matrix profiled female journalists in other countries.
While racial unrest ran high in the late ‘60s, Theta Sigma Phi confronted controversy and chose “Facing the Issues” as an annual meeting them in 1968. The Matrix published several articles on the subject including “Negro News – Why Isn’t More on Women’s Pages?” by Theta Sig Ponchitta Pierce, editor of Ebony magazine. The Vietnam War, another tumultuous issue of the ‘60s, also touched Theta Sigma Phi. Esther Van Wagoner Tufty covered the turmoil as a war correspondent, as did Natalie Best, who was the first female war correspondent for a television station.