Award-winning journalist and Auburn alumna Rheta Grimsley Johnson will give the 2013 New Horizons Lecture Tuesday, April 9, at 2 p.m. in Auburn University’s Langdon Hall auditorium.
The veteran newspaper reporter and columnist’s career has spanned 42 years and garnered awards such as the Scripps Howard Ernie Pyle Award for feature writing and the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ Distinguished Writing Award for Commentary. In 1991, she was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.
She has written for the wire service United Press International and publications such as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, Tenn.
A 1977 Auburn graduate, Johnson served as the editor of the Auburn Plainsman, leading the newspaper to the 1974-75 National Pacemaker Award, the highest national honor in student journalism.
Today, she writes a syndicated column for King Features that appears in newspapers across the nation.
In addition to her work as a journalist, Johnson has authored several books, including the only authorized biography of “Peanuts” cartoonist Charles Schulz.
Drawing on her background in journalism, Johnson’s talk for the New Horizons Lecture is titled “Who, What, When, Where and How.”
Now in its fifth year, the New Horizons Lecture is sponsored annually by the Auburn University Graduate School. The lecture series aims to promote the exchange of ideas among students, faculty and the greater Auburn community through interaction with engaging speakers whose ideas and deeds have inspired or influenced others.
Last modified: December 19, 2016
