Jane Pauley coming to DePauw April 17

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Award-winning journalist and Indiana native Jane Pauley will address the Society of Professional Journalists on April 17 at the group's 100th anniversary celebration taking place at DePauw University.

The 7:30 p.m. address will take place in Meharry Hall in the historic East College. This event is free and open to everyone. It is part of the Timothy and Sharon Ubben Lecture Series on the DePauw Campus.

Pauley will be inducted, along with four other individuals, into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame the next day at an event taking place at the Walden Inn.

Born and raised in Indianapolis, Pauley attended Warren Central High School on the east side of Indianapolis. From there she headed to Indiana University, where she received a degree in political science.

In 1972, she began her career as a reporter and anchor at the CBS affiliate WISH-TV in Indianapolis.

A few years later she was named as the first female evening news anchor in Chicago when she joined NBC-owned WMAQ. By age 25, she was behind the anchor desk on "The Today Show," where she remained for 13 years.

In 1986, she was named Broadcaster of the Year by the International Radio and Television Society and Best in the Business by the Washington Journalism Review in 1990.

She is the winner of several Emmys and the Edward R. Murrow Award for her contributions to journalism. She received the prestigious Paul White Award for her lifetime contribution to electronic journalism and the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation's Leonard Zeidenberg First Amendment Award.

Pauley's lengthy resume includes serving as weekend anchor of "NBC Nightly News" and hosting "Dateline," "Real Life with Jane Pauley," "The Jane Pauley Show," and "Time & Again," a retrospective news program which aired on MSNBC. One of her NBC documentaries, "Women, Work and Babies," won a 1985 Humanitas Award.

She was awarded the first national Matrix Award from the Association for Women in Communications, the Gracie Allen Award for Outstanding Achievement by an Individual, and was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 1998.

Pauley received a Clarion Award, a National Press Foundation Award, a Gabriel Award, a Nancy Susan Reynolds Award, a Maggie Award, a Wilbur Award from the Religious Public Relations Council and a Salute to Excellence Award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

She was named Communicator of the Year by the National Forensic League and was honored with a Living Legend Award by the Indiana Historical Society.

Pauley was inducted into the Indiana Broadcast Hall of Fame in 2006, and is one of only a select few honored also with a lifetime membership in the Hoosier broadcast organization.

In 2007, Pauley received the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.

Pauley is a trustee of the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation, serves on the Advisory Board of Freedom from Hunger, and is the Honorary Chairperson of the Advisory Board of the Children's Health Fund.

She is a fellow with the Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ) and Honorary Chair of the SPJ's Jane Pauley Task Force on Mass Communication Education.

Pauley serves as a powerful advocate in the field of mental health. In her 2004 bestselling memoir, "Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue," she wrote candidly about being diagnosed with mental illness at the age of 50 after medical treatment for hives triggered a previously unrecognized vulnerability to bipolar depression.

On May 21, 1978, Pauley became the youngest recipient of an honorary degree in the history of DePauw University. She has received honorary degrees from Notre Dame University, Providence College, and her alma mater, Indiana University.

The journalist is married to cartoonist and Pulitzer Prize winner Garry Trudeau, who created the Doonesbury comic strip. His comic strip is syndicated to over 1,400 newspapers worldwide. He was DePauw's commencement speaker in 1983.

Founded in 1909 on the DePauw campus, the Society of Professional Journalists is the nation's most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior. SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry through the daily work of its nearly 10,000 members; works to inspire and educate current and future journalists through professional development; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press through its advocacy efforts.

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  • I hope Jane Pauley takes some time to shop around the square while she's here. There's some good bargains at Goodwill! Just think about how much she could take home.

    -- Posted by whodouthinkur on Wed, Dec 31, 2008, at 12:09 PM
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