May 5, 1997 Contact John R. Crosiar (541) 346-3135 NOTE TO EDITORS: Levine and Acohido are available for media interviews while on campus. To arrange an interview, please call the Office of Communications, (541) 346-3134. EUGENE--A Pulitzer Prize-winning Seattle journalist and a nationally prominent writer, editor and media critic will visit the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication in mid-May for the 1997 Ruhl Symposium. On Tuesday, May 13, Suzanne Braun Levine, former editor of the Columbia Journalism Review and editor emerita of Ms. Magazine, will deliver the 1997 Ruhl lecture, "What's Really Wrong with the Media." The free public lecture is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in the Alumni Lounge of Gerlinger Hall, 1468 University St. Ruhl Fellow Byron Acohido, a UO alumnus who won a 1997 Pulitzer Prize for his investigative reporting as a business writer for The Seattle Times, will visit campus May 12-14 to lecture to journalism and communication classes and meet informally with students and faculty members. "This is a banner year for our Ruhl activities," says Duncan McDonald, vice president for public affairs and development and dean of the journalism school. "We are privileged to have one of the nation's premier media commentators with us in Ms. Levine, and we are delighted to welcome back `one of our own' as Acohido celebrates his richly deserved awards for tireless investigative reporting." Currently vice president of the American Society of Magazine Editors, Levine is on the editorial board of the Radcliffe Quarterly and serves on the board of the Ms. Foundation for Education and Communication. She is also an adjunct professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in New York City. In addition to being a frequent source for interviews on media performance and journalistic practices, Levine is a regular panelist for National Public Radio's syndicated show, "On the Media." Levine received her bachelor's degree with honors from Harvard University and was the founding editor of Ms. Magazine in 1972, continuing there until 1989. She then edited the Columbia Journalism Review for eight years, stepping down earlier this year. Acohido received the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting for his consistent excellence in coverage of the aviation industry. He was the lead reporter on The Seattle Times' series on rudder assembly problems with the Boeing 737, a topic he has covered since 1991. A 1977 graduate of the UO journalism school, Acohido also is the recipient of seven other major journalism awards. Among these are the 1997 Selden Ring Award, the 1997 Worth Bingham Prize and this year's George Polk Award, all for excellence in investigative reporting. Acohido, a native of Wahiawa, Hawaii, began his career as a general assignment reporter for The Herald in Everett, Wash. In 1985, he went to the Dallas Times Herald to work as a reporter and editor and began writing business features. He left Texas and returned to the Northwest in 1987 to work at The Seattle Times where he has been aerospace reporter since 1988. Levine and Acohido are the latest in a long line of distinguished national and Northwest journalists the Ruhl Symposium has brought to the UO campus since 1975 to discuss journalism ethics and media performance. The Ruhl Symposium is supported by an endowment established by the late Mabel Ruhl of Medford in memory of her husband Robert W. Ruhl, who died in 1967. He was the Pulitzer Prize-winning editor and publisher of the Medford Mail Tribune. For more information, call Jennifer King, (541) 346-3738. -30- #P-2257/Local,OrDailies/PDX,Special/cs