Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday observance

Media consultant to present free program in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

CONTACT: Debbie Richards, Executive Assistant to the President for Policy & Social Justice, 304-424-8201.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A media consultant whose 30-year career in television and higher education includes a presidential appointment as director of the world's first global satellite network will be featured in a program Thursday, Jan. 19, at West Virginia University at Parkersburg.

Charles W. Fox III will make a campus presentation as part of WVU Parkersburg's observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. His topic will be "Reunion." The program will be held at noon in Room 2536-38 and is free and open to the public.

Fox's 30-year career in media and higher education includes an appointment by President Clinton as director of WORLDNET Television, the world's first global satellite network. A recipient of several awards including an Emmy, Fox honed his skills as a TV producer, director and writer by developing programs for ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS networks and affiliates. His work is recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the National Association of Television and Programming Executives and the International Broadcasting Bureau.

Fox is also known for building "career bridges" between academic institutions and industry for students to access professional opportunities. Two projects he successfully initiated are the Warner Bros. Mid-Atlantic College Screenwriters Program and the Morgan State University Minority Communicators in Diplomacy Internship with the U.S. Department of State.

A world traveler and researcher from Athens, Ohio, Fox is currently writing about the lessons he learned while researching slavery and his family's history between the African and North American continents. Fox's "Reunion" presentation is also his working title of this story-in-progress and will summarize how his "reconnection with ancestors" is also a reaffirmation of the tenets of nonviolence as taught and practiced by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

The program is sponsored by the college's Social Justice Program. WVU Parkersburg is closed Monday (Jan. 16th) in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

cd10/05/2006

For additional information, contact:
Connie Dziagwa
WVU Parkersburg
Executive Director
Institutional Advancement
304-424-8203