Carson Brewer, journalist and conservationist, attended the university in 1945–46, following service in the European Theater in World War II. He joined the staff of the Knoxville News-Sentinel in 1945 and covered the federal beat, city hall, and the courthouse during his 40 years with the newspaper. In the 1950s Brewer began writing a column on a variety of regional subjects. He soon became widely known as a conservationist. He wrote several books about the Great Smoky Mountains and, with his wife, Alberta (part-time faculty member in the School of Journalism 1964–74), was the author of Valley So Wild.
The College of Communication and Information awards a scholarship in Brewer’s name. He and his wife (Alberta Trulock, a respected journalist in her own right, who came to Knoxville to open the United Press Bureau and who blazed new trails for women in journalism—including being the first woman journalist admitted to the Vanderbilt University press box) gave his papers to the Special Collections division of the University Libraries.