CNN's Soledad O'Brien on campus Tuesday
Soledad O'Brien, award-winning CNN journalist, visits Mississippi State March 1, sharing her perspective as a news professional.
The national news anchor and correspondent will discuss "Diversity: On TV, Behind the Scenes and In Our Lives" at 7 p.m. in Lee Hall's Bettersworth Auditorium. The event is free and open to all. A book signing and reception follows at 8:30 p.m. in the Lee Hall lobby.
Along with speaking at the evening event, she also will interact with students earlier in the day at a question-and-answer roundtable discussion.
O'Brien has covered many world events, including devastating tsunamis in Asia and Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast. She received critical acclaim for reporting in "CNN Presents: Black in America," an on-air and digital initiative that revealed the state of "Black America" four decades after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The program featured six hours of documentaries and weekly reports, analyzing people behind stereotypes, statistics and identity politics.
In 2010, she released her critically acclaimed memoir "The Next Big Story: My Journey through the Land of Possibilities." The book chronicles her biggest reporting moments and how her upbringing and background influenced these experiences.
O'Brien's visit to MSU is sponsored by the university's Campus Activities Board, the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center, and the President's Commission on the Status of Women.
Lacey Johnson, CAB student director and senior marketing major from Pontotoc, said O'Brien was selected because she's well known to students, faculty, staff and the larger MSU community and discusses a wide-range of issues facing young people.
"She has traveled the world and reported various events happening," said Johnson. "She will give insight into those stories and educate students about the importance of volunteering and giving back to their communities and nation."
A graduate of Harvard University, O'Brien received a Gracie Allen Award for her reporting from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict and for reporting on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. The NAACP and American Red Cross also have honored her for humanitarian efforts.
For more information, contact Jackie Mullen at 662-325-7914 or jmullen@saffairs.msstate.edu.
