Pulitzer Prize winner to give Robison Lecture

Peoria, Illinois . . . October 21, 2003 . . . Jacqui Banaszynski, associate managing editor of The Seattle Times, Knight Chair in editing at the Missouri School of Journalism, and Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, will present the Fall 2003 Robison Lecture on November 5 at 7 p.m. in the Marty Theatre in the Michel Student Center on the Bradley University campus. A reception will follow in the Executive Suite in the lower level of the Michel Student Center.

Titled, "Dancing on Your Knees: Journalism, Community and Commitment," the lecture is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Department of Communication.

Banaszynski spent 18 years as a beat and enterprise reporter, then worked as a projects editor at newspapers in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. While at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, her series "AIDS in the Heartland," an intimate look at the life and death of a gay farm couple, won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in feature writing and a Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. She was a finalist for the 1986 Pulitzer in international reporting for coverage of the

Ethiopian famine, and won the national AP Sports Editors deadline writing contest with a story from the 1988 Summer Olympics. Her work has exposed a fraudulent developer, explored the plight of Kurdish refugees in Iraq, and followed a dogsled expedition across Antarctica.

Banaszynski has edited several award-winning projects, including the work of The Oregonian's Tom Hallman Jr., which won the 1997 ASNE Best Writing Award, and "In Her Mother's Shoes," a story of AIDS and women in Africa, the 2003 Ernie Pyle award winner written by Paula Bock of The Seattle Times.

Banaszynski is a 1974 graduate of Marquette University. She has taught journalism at the Poynter Institute, the University of Kansas and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, and has served as a Pulitzer juror.

The Robison Lecturer program was established in memory of Mary Leslie Robison, an educator and journalist for more than 40 years. She was an assistant professor of English at Bradley from 1957 to 1968. In 1953, the Illinois Association of Journalism Teachers honored her with a gold key for meritorious service to scholastic journalism. The Robison Endowed Lectureship is designed to bring to campus distinguished working professionals and educators in print and broadcast journalism.