MEDIA ADVISORY
                                                                    April 8, 2002

Contact:
Terry Hapney, Director of Communications
Office: (740) 351-3112; FAX: (740) 351-3179
E-mail: thapney@shawnee.edu

To news directors, editors, producers, and reporters:

           A news conference featuring the “Dean” of the White House Press Corps, Helen Thomas, will be held on Tuesday, April 16, at 4:30 p.m. in the lobby of the University Center on the campus of Shawnee State University (SSU) in Portsmouth.  Maps and additional information will be provided to those members of the media who call the SSU Office of Communications and indicate they will attend the news conference.

            The famed Journalist will speak at the inaugural Leslie Williams Symposium for the Advancement of Women on April 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Theater of the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts on the SSU campus.  Thomas, who is internationally known as the former Senior White House correspondent for United Press International (UPI), will present “Front Row at the White House” at the event that honors the memory of Williams, the late chairperson of SSU’s department of arts and humanities.  

           For 40 years, Thomas had a front row seat that she used to her utmost advantage.  She announced on May 16, 2001, that she was stepping down from the press corps. She was so highly regarded that she had the opportunity to cover eight presidents in her storied career, including Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. Her relentlessly tough questions and her persistence earned her numerous journalism awards. 

           Call the SSU Office of Communications at (740) 351-3112 for more information.