Contact: Maridith Geuder
The dean of Mississippi political journalists will speak Oct. 30 at Mississippi State.
Syndicated columnist Bill Minor, who has covered Southern politics since the mid-1940s, will be featured in the university's Morris Collins Speaker Series. The 3 p.m. public event in the John Grisham Room of Mitchell Memorial Library is part of a continuing series of lectures focused on prominent public figures and their careers.
The program is a joint effort of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government, MSU Libraries' Congressional and Political Research Center and student Stennis-Montgomery Association, as well as the Starkville-based Stennis Center for Public Service.
Minor began his career with the New Orleans-based Times-Picayune following his 1943 graduation from Tulane University. He began a 30-year affiliation with that newspaper's Mississippi bureau in 1947, ending the relationship only when the paper closed its Jackson office in 1976.
During his tenure, he covered some of the most significant events in the modern history of Mississippi, including the tumultuous days of the Civil Rights movement.
Since 1976, he has concentrated almost exclusively on political commentary. He is the author of the 2001 book, "Eyes on Mississippi: A Fifty-Year Chronicle of Change," based on more than 160 of his columns.
In 1997, Minor was named the first recipient of the John Chancellor Award for Journalism, presented by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication. He also is a member of the Mississippi Press Association Hall of Fame.
For more information, telephone the MSU Libraries at (662) 325-4019.