Bob Greene to Address Graduates

BOB GREENE TO ADDRESS SPRING QUARTER GRADUATES AT OHIO STATE

COLUMBUS -- Commencement exercises for spring quarter 
graduates of The Ohio State University will be held June 12 in 
Ohio Stadium.  Some 5,300 degrees will be awarded in the 
ceremonies, which begin at 9:30 a.m.

The commencement speaker will be Bob Greene, syndicated 
columnist for the Chicago Tribune.  Greene, who grew up in the 
Columbus suburb of Bexley, has frequently written about his 
hometown, including the book Be True to your School, a 
reminiscent look at his teen years.  He has written 17 books, 
including the national best seller Hang Time: Days and Dreams 
with Michael Jordan and his latest, Chevrolet Summers, Dairy 
Queen Nights. 

Greene was the scheduled speaker for the 1997 spring quarter 
commencement that was canceled because of heavy rain.  He 
accepted an invitation to return and speak to this spring's 
graduating class. 

A veteran reporter, columnist and broadcast journalist, 
Greene has been called a "virtuoso of the things that bring 
journalism alive."  He has reported on topics ranging from 
presidential election campaigns and nationwide rock-and-roll 
tours to cattle drives in New Mexico and murder cases on the 
streets of Chicago.  Greene conducted headline-making interviews 
with Patricia Hearst while she was in prison, Richard Nixon after 
he resigned the presidency, and mass murderer Richard Speck.

After earning a journalism degree from Northwestern 
University in 1969, Greene began his career with the Chicago Sun-
Times as a reporter from 1969 to 1971.  He began writing his 
columns in 1971, and was syndicated by the Tribune Co. in 1978.  
His column now appears in more than 200 newspapers in the United 
States, Canada and Japan.  For nine years, his "American Beat" 
column in Esquire magazine was the magazine's lead column.  In 
1981 he began his broadcast career as a contributing 
correspondent for "ABC News Nightline." 

Greene won the National Headlines Award for Best Newspaper 
Columnist in the U.S. in 1977 and the Peter Lisagor Award for 
Public Service Journalism in 1981.  He was named Illinois 
Journalist of the Year in 1995.

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Contact: Tracy Turner, University Communications, (614) 688-3682.