March 31, 2010
For Immediate Release
Campbellsville University to host conversation with Terry Anderson, author, journalist and hostage in Beirut, Lebanon during the 1980s
By Joan C. McKinney, news and publications coordinator
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - Campbellsville University will host a conversation with Terry Anderson, visiting lecturer at the University of Kentucky's School of Journalism and Telecommunications, Thursday, April 15 at 2 p.m. in Ransdell Chapel, located at 401 N. Hoskins in Campbellsville.
Anderson, 62, gained international prominence in the 1980s for being the best known, and longest held, American hostage captured by Shiite Muslims in Beirut, Lebanon. He was chief Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press at the time of his capture, which lasted seven years.
Anderson is a former journalist, writer, professor, columnist, poet and lecturer. He has worked in television and radio news, as a newspaper editor, wire service reporter and foreign correspondent.
He subsequently wrote a book about his experiences as a hostage, Den of Lions, and produced and narrated a prize-winning documentary (CNN and PBS) about his return to Lebanon five years after his release, and that country's recovery from its 16-year civil war.
He taught at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and Ohio University's Scripps School of Journalism, and is currently a visiting lecturer at the University of Kentucky's School of Journalism and Telecommunications.
He is honorary chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists, which monitors press freedom around the world.
A former Marine and Vietnam veteran, he is founder and co-chair of the Vietnam Children's Fund, which has built more than 40 elementary schools in that country.
He holds a bachelor of arts in journalism and political science from Iowa State University.
Campbellsville University is a private, comprehensive institution located in South Central Kentucky. Founded in 1906, Campbellsville University is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and has an enrollment of 3,006 students who represent 97 Kentucky counties, 30 states and 37 foreign nations. Listed in U.S.News & World Report's 2010 “America's Best Colleges,” CU is ranked 23rd in “Best Baccalaureate Colleges” in the South, tied for fifth in “most international students” and fourth in “up-and-coming” schools in baccalaureate colleges in the South. CU has been ranked 17 consecutive years with U.S.News & World Report. The university has also been named to America's Best Christian Colleges® and to G.I. Jobs magazine as a Military Friendly School. Campbellsville University is located 82 miles southwest of Lexington, Ky., and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Michael V. Carter is in his 11th year as president.