Paul Simon To Speak At Huck Boyd Lecture In Community Media

Former Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois is scheduled to speak at the Huck Boyd Lecture in Community Media Oct. 10 on the Kansas State University campus.

Simon is director of the Public Policy Institute and a professor in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts at Southern Illinois University, where he teaches classes in political science, history and journalism at the Carbondale campus.

At age 19, Simon accepted a Lion’s Club challenge to save the Troy (Ill.) Tribune. He built a chain of 13 community newspapers in southern and central Illinois, which he sold in 1966 to devote full-time to public service and writing. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1974 and served Illinois' 22nd and 24th Congressional Districts for 10 years. In 1984, Simon upset three-term incumbent Charles Percy to win election to the U.S. Senate.

In 1987-88, he sought the Democratic nomination for President.

"Paul Simon’s background in political science, journalism and history will make him an ideal speaker for our lecture series," Gloria Freeland, director of the Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media, said. "We want to emphasize the importance of community journalists in their role as the grass-roots voices of America."

The lecture is sponsored by the Center in the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications and the University Distinguished Lecturers Committee. For more information, contact Linda Gilmore at (785) 532-3958. From the Kansas Press Association.