CHARLESTON - Dann Gire enjoyed portraying himself Thursday for journalism students learning about obituary writing.

With wide eyes and other theatrics, the Arlington Heights Daily Herald movie critic and Charleston native acted out how he would leave this world while taking a bullet aimed for Roger Ebert, a Chicago film critic and friend.

"Now that's the way to go!" Gire said to Eastern Illinois University students in a news writing class taught by John Ryan, who worked with Gire in college journalism at Eastern four decades ago.

Today, the award-winning film critic, who lives in Hoffman Estates, will be honored as the 2011 Journalism Department Alumnus of the Year. The luncheon will be at noon in the lower level of the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, not far from the old Pemberton Hall basement newsroom where "the scrawny kid" from Charleston High perfected his journalism skills on campus.

For the obituary lesson, Gire's life passed before the students eyes through his witty delivery ranging from how he started dating his future wife, Peggy, to how he stood up to "reprehensible" collegiate press censorship at an upstate community college, but lost with his honor intact, and acted out how Arnold Schwarzenegger nearly ripped off the critic's arm during an interview 25 years ago. His spot-on "Governator" accent produced laughter in the small classroom.

Eastern students and film lovers have gotten to know Gire from his speaking in their classes or during public events like the annual Embarras Valley Film Festival.

"Dann has established himself as one of the premier journalists in the Midwest and has been a great supporter of our program over the years," said department chairman James Tidwell. "Any time we call on him to speak at an event on campus or in other parts of the state, Dann always says ‘yes.' He's a heck of a speaker and a great film critic."

Tidwell noted that although Gire graduated from Eastern before a journalism major was established in 1975, "we've always thought of him as one of our own" because of his extensive experience with the school's student newspaper, The Daily Eastern News, which became a five-day daily newspaper during Gire's term as a co-editor-in-chief. He served as city editor and photography editor.

Gire earned a bachelor's degree in speech communication with a journalism minor in 1974 and earned a master's degree in speech communication in December 1975.

Retired Eastern journalism professor John David Reed said Gire was one of the first students he met when he came to Eastern in August 1972 as adviser to the DEN.

"He was a scrawny, wiry - and wired - shooter (photographer)," Reed said. "And he learned all the great newspaper photographer habits - super work ethic, ceaseless nose for news, creativity in pursuit of same, absolute dedication to the task, perfect understanding of the most basic rule of newsgathering: You have to be there. Those qualities have served him well during a commendable career as a journalist, of course."

After graduating from Eastern, Gire joined the Daily Herald in 1975. There, he has held positions of government reporter, crime reporter, metro reporter (assigned to the Cook County Criminal Courts) and film critic on the features staff.

He has served as the newspaper's film critic for 33 years. He's also a contributing critic for "Ebert Presents at the Movies" on PBS.

Gire has won the Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism in Arts Criticism seven times. He also has won awards from the Association of Sunday and Feature Editors, The Associated Press and other journalism organizations. He is the president and a founding director of the Chicago Film Critics Association, a nonprofit organization with charitable and educational goals.

In addition to his full-time work as a journalist, Gire teaches journalism at Aurora College. He previously taught journalism and advised the student newspaper at William Rainey Harper College in Palatine.

"What pleases me most about Dann is his dedication through his adjunct teaching to the concept of service to others, of passing it forward, that lies at the heart of journalism," Reed said. "As this alumni award attests, Dann has earned a hearty kudos from all of us who care about the profession."

Later in the morning, Gire hammered home a lesson on effective writing for students in Brian Poulter's Journalism and Democracy class.

"You have one sentence to get them to read your story. So it's like that song from Pat Benatar. Hit them with your best shot. We are in the age of efficient journalism," Gire said.

He said he understands the future for print newspapers may be uncertain. But journalism in whatever future medium will depend on journalists getting the answers.

"If you start thinking critically about a lot of things then you're on the way to becoming a successful journalist," Gire said.

Contact Meeker at hmeeker@jg-tc.com or 238-6869.