MEDIA ADVISORY
                                                                    December 20, 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:

Rita Rice Morris, Ph.D., the newly appointed president of Shawnee State University (who begins her duties at SSU on May 27, 2003), will be on the SSU campus Monday, December 23, 2002, and is available for interviews.

Dr. Morris, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho, has over 30 years of experience in higher education as an instructor; assistant professor; associate professor; experimental college administrator; division head; coordinator of off campus programs; assistant to the dean; dean of the College of Communication, Computer Information Science, and Library Science; and dean of the College of Graduate and Extended Studies. She has held appointments at Lewis-Clark State College, 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).

Representatives from local, regional, and statewide media outlets are invited to interview Dr. Morris in person or via telephone on Monday, Dec. 23. Call the SSU Office of Communications at (740) 351-3112 for more information and to schedule a time to interview Dr. Morris on Monday.

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