Overby Center’s Election Year Series Kicks Off with Syndicated Columnist

OXFORD, Miss. – David Shribman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, will be the featured guest in the first of this fall’s election-year programs at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics at the University of Mississippi.

A nationally-syndicated columnist and a frequent analyst for BBC Radio, Shribman will join Charles Overby, chairman of the Overby Center, and Overby Fellows Bill Rose and Curtis Wilkie in a conversation about the 2012 presidential campaign and American politics in general. The program, at 10 a.m. Friday (Sept. 7) in the Overby Center auditorium, is free and open to the public.Overby, Rose and Wilkie covered national politics for years as journalists for major newspapers.

“David Shribman has distinguished himself for years with his thoughtful commentary,” said Wilkie, who worked with Shribman at the Boston Globe. “We covered campaigns together, and he’s one of the best.”

Shribman has followed national politics for more than 30 years. He began his career with The Buffalo Evening News and quickly moved from a city beat to become a member of the newspaper’s Washington bureau. He later joined the national staff of The Washington Star. After the Star ceased publication in 1981, Shribman covered American politics for The New York Times and then became a national political correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.

He was hired as Washington bureau chief for the Boston Globe in 1993. While at the Globe, Shribman won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Washington and the American political scene.

In 2003, he became executive editor of the Post-Gazette. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, former Washington Post columnist Cindy Skrzycki, and their two daughters.

The Overby Center has scheduled several other political programs for the fall, including a special Oct. 3 simulcast of the first presidential debate of 2012 along with a documentary about the first 2008 debate that took place at Ole Miss. On Oct. 25, the Overby Center is hosting this year’s only First Congressional district debate, with U.S. Rep. Alan Nunnelee, the Republican incumbent, and his Democratic opponent, Brad Morris.

For more information or for assistance related to a disability, contact Dawn Jeter at 662-915-1692.