September 13, 2004
Pulitzer prize-winning writer to speak on campus
CARBONDALE, Ill. - - Pulitzer prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman will give a free public lecture, "Common Sense in Uncommon Times," at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21, in the Student Center Auditorium at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Goodman's popular editorials originate in the Boston Globe. The Washington Post Writers Group syndicates the column to more than 450 newspapers. Audience members may meet Goodman at a free reception immediately after her talk.
She is a guest of the Glassman Lecture Series.
Reporters, photographers and TV crews can meet with Goodman for short interviews at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21, in the Student Center's Ohio Room.
"The 25-year veteran newspaper columnist expertly breaks our complex world into digestible food for thought. Further, she treats all of her wide-ranging subjects with a refreshing sense of humility and conviction. Goodman (is) a writer unafraid to acknowledge the nuances involved in politics, technology and culture . . .," says Publishers Weekly in its review of her latest book, whose title, "Paper Trail: Common Sense in Uncommon Times" mirrors the theme of her talk.
A 1963 cum laude graduate of Radcliffe College, Goodman began her career as a fact checker for Newsweek magazine. In 1965, she became a reporter with the Detroit Free Press and two years later joined the editorial staff at the Boston Globe, where she shattered the former dominance men enjoyed as political and social commentators.
Goodman's pensive and straightforward columns won the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary.
The University Honors Program is sponsoring Goodman's visit, which is underwritten by an endowment from Nancy Kreftmeyer Glassman and her late husband, Michael L. Glassman, both graduates of the University.
The Glassman lectures exemplify SIUC's aspiration of reaching out to others through coordinating cultural outreach programs as outlined in Southern at 150: Building Excellence Through Commitment, the blueprint for the development of the University by the time it celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2019.