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Veteran Columnists to Say ‘Listen Up, Mr. President’ at Embry-Riddle Town Hall Forum

Helen Thomas Daytona Beach, Fla., Jan. 29, 2010 -- Washington columnists Helen Thomas and Craig Crawford will discuss their new book, Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do, Feb. 16 at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s next President’s Speaker Series event.

Thomas is a veteran news service reporter, a Hearst Newspapers columnist, and a member of the White House Press Corps. She served for 57 years as a correspondent and, later, White House bureau chief for United Press International. Thomas has covered every U.S. president since John F. Kennedy. She was the first female officer of the National Press Club, the first female member and president of the White House Correspondents Association, and the first female member of the Gridiron Club. She has written five books.

Craig Crawford Crawford is a writer and television political commentator based in Washington, D.C., and a columnist for Congressional Quarterly. He has written three books.

During their presentation, Thomas and Crawford will take questions from the audience and then sign copies of their book, which will be available for sale. The event is from 5:30-7 p.m. in the atrium of the College of Aviation building on Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach, Fla., campus.

Embry-Riddle created the President’s Speaker Series as town hall forums about topics in the public interest in 2010 to help cultivate a more informed electorate.

“For many of our students, the first opportunity to vote comes in their first two years in college,” said Johnson, Embry-Riddle’s president. “We consider it our responsibility to give them a well-rounded understanding of issues in our changing society, because we are preparing them to be leaders.”

Although the 90-minute forums are designed to engage Embry-Riddle students, faculty, and staff on issues of public policy, they are also free and open to the general public. Speakers cover topics such as education, foreign policy, law, medicine, money, and politics. The forums are moderated by Marc Bernier, a special assistant to the president at Embry-Riddle.

The President’s Speaker Series events will be broadcast live on 1150AM WNDB and streamed live on www.wndb.am. Other dates and guests will be announced later.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Worldwide Campus at more than 150 locations in the United States, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu.