Athens, Ga. – Cynthia Tucker, a Pulitzer Prize winner and veteran newspaper journalist, will deliver the University of Georgia’s 12th annual Mary Frances Early Lecture on April 4 at 4 p.m. in the Tate Student Center Grand Hall.
The lecture honors Mary Frances Early, the first African-American student to earn a degree from UGA, and her legacy. This year’s lecture celebrates the 50th anniversary of her graduation with a master’s degree in music education in 1962. She completed her specialist in education degree in 1967.
Tucker was the editorial page editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for 17 years, where she led the development of opinion policy. More recently, she was the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Washington-based political columnist, and she maintains a syndicated column, which is published in dozens of newspapers around the country.
In 2007, Tucker won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. She also has received numerous other awards, including Journalist of the Year from the National Association of Black Journalists.
Tucker currently is a visiting professor of journalism and the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Distinguished Writer-in-Residence in the UGA Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
The annual lecture recognizes Mary Frances Early’s dedication toward making UGA an institution of higher learning for all people. The lecture series strives to demonstrate the progress that has been made in achieving her vision as well as to identify the work that remains to be done.
UGA’s Graduate School, Graduate and Professional Scholars and the Office of Institutional Diversity will sponsor the lecture, which is free and open to the public.
For more information on the Mary Frances Early Lecture, see http://www.grad.uga.edu/.
