Former New York Times managing editor Gerald Boyd to address journalism's challenges

Oct. 14, 2003 -- Gerald Boyd, former managing editor of The New York Times, will deliver the Greg Freeman Legacy Lecture at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21 in Graham Chapel at Washington University. The talk is free and open to the public. Graham Chapel is located just north of Mallinckrodt Center (6445 Forsyth) on the University's main campus. Boyd's talk is titled "Journalism 2003: Meeting Challenges from Race to Credibility."

Prior to Boyd's 20-year tenure at The New York Times, he worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. After graduating from the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism, he began working for the paper as a copyboy in 1973. He worked his way up to be the newspaper's White House correspondent.

In 1983 he joined the Times, and soon was a part of its national political team. After the 1984 presidential election, he became one of the paper's two White House correspondents. In 1991 Boyd became a senior editor and was appointed special assistant to the managing editor. Soon thereafter, he was named metropolitan editor, managing a staff of more than 100 reporters and editors. Throughout his career at both papers, Boyd has won several publisher awards and has had many reporters win a Pulitzer Prize under his editorial watch.

Another major accomplishment of Boyd's is his founding, in 1977, of the St. Louis Association of Black Journalists; he served as its first president. Throughout his career, Boyd has worked to increase the number of minority students in journalism. While in St. Louis, he established a journalism workshop for area high school students, and he has taught journalism at Howard University and at the University of Missouri's journalism workshop for minority students.

The lecture is being given in memory of St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Gregory Freeman. A man who contributed much to St. Louis and its community, he was loved and respected by many for his insightful and compassionate columns that called for understanding and inclusion. He also hosted an interview show called "St. Louis On The Air" on KWMU-FM. Freeman died at age 46 last December.

An alumnus of Washington University's Arts & Sciences (1977), Freeman was also known for his contributions to the campus newspaper, Student Life, where he served as co-editor in chief during the 1976-77 academic year. Later, he took a leadership role in establishing a new board and served as the founding president of Washington University Student Media, Inc., the nonprofit corporation that now serves as publisher of the student newspaper.

For information on the event, as well as parking assistance, please call (314) 935-5285 or visit the Washington University website at www.wustl.edu/