Public Broadcasting executive to speak at VCU’s Mass Comm Week

By Tom Gresham

Corporation for Public Broadcasting President and CEO Patricia Harrison will headline Virginia Commonwealth University’s annual Mass Comm Week — a free program of guest lectures, presentations, discussions and workshops scheduled for Oct. 10 through Oct. 14.

Among the other featured speakers during the week of events will be Caesar Andrews, the new executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, and Dean Hoffmeyer, a staff photographer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, whose combat images from Iraq captured national attention.

“We are extremely excited about the speakers participating in this year’s event,” said Paula Otto, the associate director of the School of Mass Communications, which sponsors the event. “They are among the best in their fields.”

Harrison, a former assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs and a former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, will speak on “Communicating America’s Message” on Oct. 14 at 1 p.m. in Richmond Salon III of the University Student Commons. Harrison was involved in the U.S. State Department’s use of media as a component of public diplomacy abroad following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In her current position as head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Harrison heads the private, nonprofit organization that is the largest source of funding for public television and radio programming.

Andrews, a past president of the Associated Press Managing Editors organization, will deliver the third Bill Turpin Lecture in News Management at 6 p.m. on Oct. 13 in Room 1169 of the Temple building. Andrews began work as executive director of the Detroit Free Press in September after serving as editor of Gannett News Service.

The Turpin Lecture was created in 2002 by former students who wished to honor the memory of William Turpin, an invaluable coach and career advisor to aspiring journalists during his 16 years as a teacher at VCU.

Hoffmeyer, who has been with the Richmond Times-Dispatch since 1996, was accompanying a unit of the Virginia National Guard in December of 2004 when a suicide bomb blast exploded in a military dining tent in Mosul, Iraq, killing 22 people and injuring approximately 70 others. Hoffmeyer’s photographs of the immediate aftermath of the attack were carried on the front of nearly every major American newspaper the next day and appeared on countless television news reports.

Hoffmeyer’s presentation, which is titled “Images from Iraq,” will be held in the Richmond Salon III room of the University Student Commons at 1 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 10.

Several industry professionals will participate in student workshops and panel discussions during Mass Comm Week, including Eric Futterman, a VCU graduate and Emmy-winning filmmaker; Martha Steger, public relations director for the Virginia Tourism Corp.; Paula Neely of the Historic Jamestown Foundation; Louise Seals, managing editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch; and Tom Silvestri, president and publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

In addition to the presentations and discussions, there will be a mass communications internship fair on Oct. 11 between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the University Student Commons. More than a dozen organizations are expected.

All events are open to the public. For more information and a full schedule of events, call (804) 828-2660 or visit http://www.has.vcu.edu/mac.

The VCU School of Mass Communications was established in 1978 to educate students for media careers, including advertising, journalism and public relations. A unit in the College of Humanities & Sciences, the school is the third largest major at Virginia Commonwealth University with 1,077 students. The Adcenter, VCU’s graduate advertising program, is ranked No. 1 in the United States.