Nationally syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker, whose work appears in 350 newspapers nationwide, will serve as the West Virginia University Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalisms initial speaker of the 2005-2006 Ogden Newspapers Seminar Series.

Parker will speak at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, in Room 21 White Hall. Her speech,How Nurse Ratched Lobotomized the Newsroom, will focus on the corporatization of newspapers and its impact on news coverage.

Nurse Ratched is the metaphor for that deadening effect,Parker said.What we need is a resurrection of the spirit of Randle P. McMurphy.

Parker is known as a maverick conservative who offers readers the best of both worlds: the contacts of a Washington insider with the’Is-it-me-or-is-this-crazy?’perspective of an outsider.

We are very pleased to have a nationally syndicated columnist of Kathleen Parker’s stature coming to West Virginia University to share her experiences and observations with journalism students and members of the local community,said Interim Dean Maryanne Reed.We are especially thankful for the support of the Nutting family, whose generosity has made this lecture possible.

Often compared to the legendary curmudgeon Mike Royko of the Chicago Tribune , Parker began her twice-weekly commentary in 1987 as a staff writer for The Orlando Sentinel . After entering into syndication in 1995, her column rocketed in popularity.

Parker has won numerous awards, including the 1993 H. L. Mencken Writing Award issued by The Baltimore Sun . The judges praised Parker for singing another note on the subject of family values and following the tradition of H. L. Mencken in attacking ignorance and stupidity with vividness and originality. In its annual Opinion Awards last year, The Week magazine named her one of the top five columnists in the country.

In addition to her syndicated column, Parker is director of the School of Written Expression at the Buckley School of Public Speaking and Persuasion in Camden, S.C. She is a past instructor of editorial writing and advanced feature writing at the University of South Carolina College of Journalism and Mass Communications. She is also a member of _ USA Today’s_ Board of Contributors, writing regularly for the paper’s op-ed page, and has written for various magazines, including Time , The Weekly Standard , Fortune Small Business , Town&Country and Cosmopolitan.

Parker appears on various news television programs, including The OReilly Factor, Court TV, Greta Van Susterans The Point, and regularly joins other journalists on Chris MatthewsSunday roundtable.

Parkers column focuses on culture and politics, especially regarding family, children and gender. She divides her time between homes in Camden, S.C., and Washington, D.C