OXFORD, Miss. (AP) – Stuart Bullion, who held his “dream job” as chairman of the University of Mississippi’s journalism department since 1997, died Wednesday of cancer. He was 56.

He oversaw a $7.5 million renovation of the journalism department facilities at Ole Miss and helped bring the Freedom Forum’s Charles Overby Center for Southern Politics and Journalism to the campus.

A native of Minneapolis, Bullion won the Minnesota Press Association’s general excellence award in 1975 as a reporter and editor for the St. Louis Park Sun.

A veteran of Vietnam and Desert Storm, Bullion previously taught at Southern Illinois University, Spring Hill College and the University of Maine. He held degrees from Princeton University and the University of Minnesota.

“Providentially, I saw an announcement calling for applicants for chair of the Ole Miss journalism department,” Bullion once said. “I had my credentials in the mail the next day.”

Bullion’s research fields included international mass communication, press ethics and coverage of the death penalty.

He is survived by his wife, Hanh Nguyen, and their three children.

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