Press Releases
Honors Programs Annual Lecture Welcomes Award-Winning Editor And Sun-Times Columnist Laura S. Washington
Washington to speak on ‘The Idea of America’ at event Wednesday, Feb. 18
CHICAGO (Dec. 29, 2003) – Chicago Sun-Times columnist and award-winning editor Laura S. Washington will sound her compelling and informed voice on race relations, minority life and ethnic diversity at Saint Xavier University’s annual Honors Program guest lecture, to be held 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18 in McGuire Hall at the University’s Chicago Campus.
Washington’s topic, “Why We Can’t Afford to Run Away from Race,” fittingly manifests itself in this year’s Honors Seminar theme, “The Idea of America.”
“The Honors Program chose Laura Washington as its annual guest lecturer because we believed she could so effectively address the theme of this year’s seminar, ‘The Idea of America.’ Honors Seminars are focusing on competing notions of what the Americas mean and include, and points in our history when these myths and ideas have been challenged,” said Judith Hiltner, English professor and Honors Program director. “Throughout her award-winning journalistic career, Ms. Washington has become one of this country’s most authoritative media voices on the realities of minority life, race relations and ethnic diversity.”
Washington is the Ida B. Wells-Barnett University professor at Chicago’s DePaul University, an award-winning editor and currently a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. A television and radio commentator, a public speaker and Editor and Publisher Emerita for The Chicago Reporter, Washington brings more than two decades of diverse experiences in print and broadcast journalism, urban affairs and social justice issues.
From 1990 to 2001, Washington edited The Chicago Reporter, a nationally recognized investigative monthly specializing in radical issues and urban affairs. Saying “her style of investigative journalism has made (The Chicago Reporter) a powerful and award-winning voice,” Newsweek magazine cited Washington as one of the nation’s “100 People to Watch” in the 21st Century.
In 1985, Mayor Harold Washington, Chicago’s first black mayor, appointed Ms. Washington as his deputy press secretary. She also has served as a producer for the investigative unit at CBS-2/Chicago. She has written for the Chicago Tribune as well, specializing in issues of race, poverty and urban affairs.
A two-time Emmy winner, Washington holds a Peter Lisagor Award for outstanding journalism, the Studs Terkel Award for Community Journalism and the Ohio State Award for broadcast journalism. She also has received the Racial Justice Award from the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago and the 2002 Northwestern University Alumnae Award. She is also a founding inductee to the Medill School of Journalism Hall of Achievement.
Washington also has been widely featured in national media reports and programs on politics and racial and urban issues. Her appearances include Time and Newsweek magazines, The New York Times, NBC Nightly News, The Lehrer News Hour and National Public Radio.
Hiltner said Washington’s experience would make for a worthwhile and engaging evening for Saint Xavier students, faculty and staff and the University’s wider community.
“In her newspaper columns and television commentary, she articulates in compelling ways the enduring disparities between American ideals and American realities,” Hiltner said. “We were certain she would provide stimulating and provocative insights. Her commentary, even on the most contentious issues, is always fair, frank and admirably informed.”
The program is free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information on this lecture, please call 773-298-3000 or visit www.sxu.edu.