Jeff Cannon Named Chancellor's Scholar

Jeffrey Cannon, a junior in the J-School, was named among the 15 top students at IUB by Chancellor Sharon Brehm on May 2. The award-giving ceremony took place at Chancellor Brehm's residence.

The scholars are nominated by the faculty and selected by the deans of each school. The students, said Brehm, are selected "for having distinguished themselves academically and for showing extraordinary intellectual curiosity, superior potential and independent thought."

Cannon, a 44-year-old singer and songwriter from New York City, had been out of school for 20 years before marriage brought him to Bloomington and IU School of Journalism in 2000.

An ardent fan of Ernie Pyle's writing, Cannon wants to write creative nonfiction along the lines of John McPhee and Tracy Kidder. He is working on a book, tentatively titled Buskers, about street performers in Boston, and has an IU creative activities grant to work on it this summer.

Cannon calls the Chancellor's honor his proudest academic achievement.

"I try to remind myself," says Cannon, "that I have the benefit of half a lifetime of experience to make me a better student and critical thinker. I'm proud of myself for having had the courage to go back to school."

The Chancellor's award is conferred annually and includes a special book from the student's academic discipline or membership in a professional society and also carries a scholarship. Chancellor Brehm and the deans of each of the schools presented the awards at a campus reception. Cannon received "The John McPhee Reader" from the J-School.

"Each of the scholars is in his or her next-to-last year of study, late enough to have demonstrated academic achievement and early enough to share reflections and ideas with the campus administration. I am proud to have them as students on campus," said Chancellor Brehm. Meanwhile, Cannon is interning at IU Alumni magazine throughout the summer. "And in the holes, I'll be playing a lot of Candyland and Chutes & Ladders, I'm sure," says Cannon.