A touching tribute to a professor I'm a sucker for tributes to teachers. So I was happy today to see Gael Cooper of Pop Culture Junk Mail fame take a break from her usual wackiness to post a poignant tribute to one of her favorite professors, the Rev. James Whalen. Rev. Whalen died April 8 at age 78. I didn't know Rev. Whalen, and didn't go to the same J-School, but having graduated from one of the finest journalism schools in the nation, I had the privilege of learning under the same types of old-school journalism profs. It's obvious from Gael's tribute that Rev. Whalen had a lasting impact on her life -- the hallmark of any great teacher. As she writes: His loss is felt by hundreds of non-thumb-sucking ink-stained wretches the world over, including this one. Thank you, Father, for making the road less traveled seem not so frightening after all. Those lines in themselves attest to his influence.