Melissa Block, host of National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” since 2003, will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 1, in the auditorium of O’Shaughnessy Educational Center on the St. Paul campus of the University of St. Thomas.
The program is the fourth in Minnesota Public Radio News’ 2013-2014 Broadcast Journalist Series, which is co-sponsored by the St. Thomas College of Arts and Sciences, its Communication and Journalism Department, and by Thomson Reuters.
Melissa Block
Block will be interviewed on stage that evening by Tom Weber, co-host of “The Daily Circuit” for Minnesota Public Radio News.
Block is a 29-year veteran of NPR and in addition to her work on “All Things Considered,” she spent nearly a decade as a correspondent. Frequently reporting from communities in the center of the news, Block was in Chengdu, China, preparing for a weeklong broadcast when a massive earthquake struck the region in May 2008. Immediately following the quake, Block, along with co-host Robert Siegel and their production team, traveled throughout Sichuan province to report on the destruction and relief efforts.
Their coverage aired across all of NPR's programs and was carried by news organizations around the world. In addition, the reporting was recognized with the industry's top honors, including a Peabody Award, a duPont-Columbia Award, a National Headliner Award and the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi Award.
Her work has included on-the-scene reporting from the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the days following Hurricane Katrina and a series gauging the impact of the Iraq War on Texas communities. Her reporting after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was part of coverage that earned NPR a George Foster Peabody Award. Block's reporting from Kosovo in 1999 was cited among stories for which NPR News won an Overseas Press Club Award.
Students, staff and faculty from the five Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities (including St. Thomas) are admitted for free at the door on the evening of the program. Just present your college or university ID to the usher at the entrance of the O’Shaughnessy Educational Center auditorium.
General Admission tickets are $12 for Minnesota Public Radio members and $15 for nonmembers. Ticket information, along with directions for parking on or near the St. Thomas campus, is available here.
Now in its 19th year, Minnesota Public Radio's Broadcast Journalist Series commissions renowned journalists for a 24-hour residency four times a year. They share insights on their craft and issues that affect our world.
