MEDIA ADVISORY
                                                                    May 20, 2003

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:  

Rita Rice Morris, SSU’s newly-appointed president,
begins her duties in southern Ohio, May 27-a week from today

 WHO: Rita Rice Morris, Ph.D., the newly-appointed president of Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio, begins her work at SSU--one of Ohio’s 13 four-year, state universities--on May 27. 

WHAT/WHEN:  Morris is available for media interviews on Tuesday, May 27 from 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.  If this time frame does not work for you, please let the SSU Office of Communications know so another time can be scheduled.

WHERE:  Interviews can take place in the Office of the President located on the first floor of the Administration Building on the SSU campus in Portsmouth.  Morris can also be interviewed via telephone.

BACKGROUND:  Morris, appointed president of SSU in December by the university’s board of trustees, comes to SSU after serving as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho.  She has over 30 years of experience in higher education as professor and dean, holding appointments at Clarion University of PA, Slippery Rock University, Davis and Elkins College, Bowdoin College, Montana State University, Southwest Missouri State University, State University of New York at Buffalo, Albion College, Illinois State University, and Northern Illinois University.  Her Ph.D. is in communication from the State University of New York at Buffalo (1978), M.A. is in speech communication education from Northern Illinois University (1970), and B.A. is in speech communication from California State University at Long Beach (1968).

TO SCHEDULE:  To schedule an interview with Morris, call the SSU Office of Communications at (740) 351-3112 or send an e-mail message to thapney@shawnee.edu.

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