{"id":86332,"date":"2025-06-10T17:37:46","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T17:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/?post_type=stories&#038;p=86332"},"modified":"2025-06-10T18:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T18:28:07","slug":"an-idiosyncratic-genius","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/news\/an-idiosyncratic-genius\/","title":{"rendered":"An \u2018Idiosyncratic Genius\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6>EWU\u2019s Gary Krug was that rare public intellectual who could make his classroom come alive with learning.<\/h6>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\">G<\/span>ary Krug, professor emeritus of communication studies, joined Eastern\u2019s faculty in 2002 and, over the next two decades, served the university with distinction, passion, integrity and humor \u2014 all qualities which underscored his success as both an educator and scholar.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_86330\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86330\" style=\"width: 262px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-fluid wp-image-86330 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/06\/Picture1-2-copy.jpg\" alt=\"Gary Krug photo\" width=\"262\" height=\"334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/06\/Picture1-2-copy.jpg 262w, https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/06\/Picture1-2-copy-235x300.jpg 235w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 262px) 100vw, 262px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-86330\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gary Krug<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p5\">Krug\u2019s intellectual curiosity was boundless. He taught undergraduate and graduate courses in media and technology, political communication, cultural studies, global communication, and integrated social science theory. He created dynamic classroom environments where learning came alive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">In addition to teaching, Professor Krug held leadership positions in both his department, where he served for many years as chair, and the United Faculty of Eastern, which he led as president and vice president for labor-management affairs. In both roles he was a tireless advocate for fairness, collaboration and faculty empowerment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">Outside of campus, Krug gained a reputation as a quintessential public intellectual. As the popular voice of the shows \u201cEat the Press\u201d and \u201cLong Waves\u201d on KYRS Thin Air Community Radio, his commentary brought historical and cultural context to current events.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">\u201cGary was an idiosyncratic genius, wired to cut against the grain and question everything,\u201d says Peter Shields, Eastern\u2019s current chair of communication studies. \u201cHe was a gift to those students who were prepared to open their minds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">Krug was often described as a Renaissance soul: a painter, a guitarist and singer, a lover of nature, a bird watcher, a connoisseur of beer and whiskey, an amateur astronomer and a voracious reader with astonishing recall. \u201cI so enjoyed Gary as a person,\u201d said EWU\u2019s Provost Jonathan Anderson. \u201cHis warmth, humor, and that spark of curiosity in everything he did. He was also a truly gifted musician, and I will always remember his love for sharing music as one of the many ways he connected with others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">Gary James Krug died on March 18, 2025. He was 69 years old.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EWU\u2019s Gary Krug was that rare public intellectual who could make his classroom come alive with learning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":484,"featured_media":86330,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-86332","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-in-memoriam","stories_tags-spring-summer-2025"],"acf":{"subheading":"","featured_image_format":"cover","display_byline":false,"display_featured_image":false,"display_date_published":false,"featured_video":"","Links":false,"Resources":false,"page_override_title":"","page_hide_sidebar":false,"page_enable_page_nav":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/484"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86384,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86332\/revisions\/86384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}