PRESS RELEASE
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS
COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS AND COMMUNICATION
Contact: Dr. Donna Lampkin Stephens, (501) 450-5605; donnals@uca.edu
September 3, 2015
JOURNALIST GENE FOREMAN TO BE IN RESIDENCE SEPT. 23-25
By Cassidy Crawford
College of Fine Arts and Communication Media Office
CONWAY — Gene Foreman, the former Arkansas journalist who helped lead The Philadelphia Inquirer to 18 Pulitzer Prizes during his 25-year career there, will visit the University of Central Arkansas as Artist in Residence Sept. 23-25.
All events are free and open to the public. No tickets are required.
“Gene Foreman is one of the giants of American journalism, and the UCA Journalism program is so pleased to bring him to campus to share his experiences and work with our students and the community,” said Dr. Donna Lampkin Stephens, associate professor of Journalism and a faculty sponsor of the residency. “This will be a wonderful opportunity for everyone interested in the media, journalism ethics and history.”
Foreman’s residency will begin on Wednesday, Sept. 23, with a 6:30 p.m. reception in UCA’s Buffalo Alumni Hall. At 7 p.m., Foreman will take part in a panel discussion about the coverage of the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957 with Jerry Dhonau, Bill Lewis, Jerry McConnell and Roy Reed, all of whom were his fellow reporters at the Gazette during the crisis.
“It is such an honor to host someone of Professor Foreman’s caliber on our campus,” said Dr. Gayle Seymour, associate dean of UCA’s College of Fine Arts and Communication. “Students and the public alike will enjoy learning from this veteran journalist who has had such a distinguished career in the newspaper world.”
Foreman grew up in rural Phillips County and graduated from Elaine High School in 1952 and Arkansas State University in 1956. He began working at the Gazette in summers during his college years. After leaving the Gazette in 1962 he worked as a copy editor at The New York Times, as managing editor of the Pine Bluff Commercial and later of the Arkansas Democrat, and as executive news editor of Newsday on Long Island. He joined The Philadelphia Inquirer as managing editor in 1973 and continued to manage newsroom operations until his retirement in 1998. He taught journalism at Penn State University from 1998 through 2006, serving as the inaugural Larry and Ellen Foster Professor.
In retirement he continues as a Penn State visiting professor, directing a conference of distinguished writers in which acclaimed journalists — 41 of them have won Pulitzer Prizes — visit to discuss their experiences and techniques. The conference was originally the Foster Conference of Distinguished Writers but was renamed the Foster-Foreman Conference in 2011.
He was the University of Arkansas’s inaugural Distinguished Visiting Professor of Ethics in Journalism in 2013, and was Reynolds Distinguished Visiting Professor at Washington & Lee University in 2014.
Wiley-Blackwell published Foreman’s textbook, The Ethical Journalist: Making Responsible Decisions in the Pursuit of News, in 2009. A second edition was issued this summer, bearing a new subtitle that reflects the thorough updating: Making Responsible Decisions in the Digital Age. The book is taught in about 40 American universities.
In 1990, Foreman was president of the Associated Press Managing Editors, and from 1995 to 1998 he was a board member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. In 1998 he received a career achievement award from the Philadelphia chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
At UCA, Foreman will visit several Journalism classes in Stanley Russ Hall on Thursday, Sept. 24. From 9:25 to 10:40 a.m., he will be with Broadcasting Announcing students in room 123. From 1:40 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., he will meet with UCA’s student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists in room 108. From 4:05 to 5:20 p.m., he will visit the Media Law and Ethics class in room 108.
At 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 24, Foreman will present a public lecture, “Why Journalism Ethics Matter,” in the College of Business auditorium, room 107.
On Friday, Sept. 25, Foreman will visit the Advanced Reporting class from 9 to 9:50 a.m. in Stanley Russ Hall room 102, and the News Editing class from noon to 12:50 p.m. in the same room.
For more information about the residency, contact Stephens at (501) 450-5605 or donnals@uca.edu.
The Artist in Residence program is funded by UCA’s arts fee and is administered by the College of Fine Arts and Communication. For more information about the program, call the Office of the Dean, College of Fine Arts and Communication, at (501) 450-3293 or e-mail jdmiller@uca.edu.
The UCA College of Fine Arts and Communication includes the Departments of Art, Communication, Mass Communication and Theatre, Music and Writing. The college’s primary mission is the preparation of the next generation of artists, educators and communicators. For more information about CFAC, visit www.uca.edu/cfac or call (501) 450-3293.
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