April 11, 2018
Media Advisory – Vinicky to present Marmaduke Lecture
Amanda Vinicky, a correspondent and segment host with WTTW-TV’s Chicago Tonight, will present the Virginia Marmaduke Scholarship Lecture at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 12, at SIU Carbondale.
Vinicky will discuss “Contemporary Journalism” in Lawson Hall, Room 101. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Has covered Illinois state politics for more than a decade
Vinicky’s primary focus is on Illinois government and politics. Prior to joining Chicago Tonight in 2017, she covered Illinois government and state politics for a decade as statehouse bureau chief for NPR and the Illinois Public Radio network.
The Springfield Business Journal recognized her as one of its “40 under 40” outstanding young professionals in Springfield in 2016.
Vinicky earned a master’s degree in Public Affairs Reporting from the University of Illinois Springfield and bachelor degrees in political science and journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Lecture and scholarship honors journalism icon
The lecture honors the late Virginia “The Duchess” Marmaduke, a Southern Illinois native and groundbreaking Chicago journalist. A native of Carbondale who spent much of her later life in Pinckneyville, Marmaduke died in November 2001 at age 93.
The Marmaduke lecture series is the result of a $1.22 million gift from Marmaduke’s estate — the largest gift in SIUC’s College of Mass Communication and Media Arts history. The gift funds the Virginia Marmaduke Mass Communication and Media Arts Endowed Scholarship, along with a lectureship and media center activities.