Cokie Roberts to capstone O’Bannon Institute at Ivy Tech

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 20, 2012                                                  

Cokie Roberts to capstone O’Bannon Institute at Ivy Tech

Cokie Roberts, political commentator for ABC News, will capstone Ivy Tech-Bloomington’s ninth annual O’Bannon Institute for Community Service with a closing conversation on Friday, April 27 at 2:30 p.m. The closing conversation will take place following Institute panels on Ivy Tech-Bloomington’s main campus, in the Connie and Steve Ferguson Academic Building. The event theme for this year’s Institute is “America the Dutiful – The Questions that Occupy U.S.”

George F. Will, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, will headline the Institute’s fundraising dinner on Thursday, April 26 at the Bloomington Monroe County Convention Center. Tickets are still available at $100 per person, a portion of which is tax deductible. Proceeds benefit the Ivy Tech-Bloomington Center for Civic Engagement.

Each year, as part of the O’Bannon Institute for Community Service, Ivy Tech students, faculty and staff participate in a Day of Service in our communities and that will take place on Thursday, April 26 beginning at 8 a.m. To kick off O’Bannon Institute events, Ivy Tech-Bloomington will host its annual Civic Engagement Awards on Wednesday, April 25 to recognize faculty, staff, and community partners for excellence in volunteerism.

The O’Bannon Institute launched nine years ago by Ivy Tech-Bloomington is an annual opportunity for the community to come together to discuss topics related to nonprofits, education and political and civic service. Previous speakers at the Institute have included former U.S. Senators, Pulitzer prize-winning authors, Governors, political advisers and columnists, and Laura W. Bush, former First Lady of the United States.

O’Bannon Institute fundraising dinner tickets can be purchased online at http://obannon.ivytech.edu or by contacting Tina Phelps, Assistant to the Chancellor, at (812) 330-6001 or tphelps@ivytech.edu. 

Admission for Friday’s Institute panels and conversation at Ivy Tech is with a canned good or free-will donation for Hoosier Hills Food Bank. Reservations are required and can be made at http://obannon.ivytech.edu and then click “Tickets,” or by contacting Tina Phelps at 330-6001 or tphelps@ivytech.edu.

O’Bannon Institute speaker information and schedules can be found online at http://obannon.ivytech.edu. 

Speaker Bios:

Roberts is a political commentator for ABC News. From 1996-2002 she and Sam Donaldson co-anchored the weekly ABC interview program This Week. Ms. Roberts also serves as Senior News Analyst for National Public Radio. In her more than forty years in broadcasting, she has won countless awards, including three Emmys. She has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame, and was cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the fifty greatest women in the history of broadcasting.

Will is today’s most widely read columnist. His newspaper column has been syndicated by The Washington Post since 1974. It currently appears in 400 newspapers in the United States and in Europe.  He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1977 for commentary for his columns. Altogether, eight collections of Will’s Newsweek and Washington Post columns have been published, the most recent being One Man’s America. He became a founding panel member on ABC television’s This Week in 1981.

Ivy Tech Community College (www.ivytech.edu) is the state’s largest public postsecondary institution and the nation’s largest singly accredited statewide community college system serving nearly 200,000 students annually. Ivy Tech has campuses throughout Indiana. It serves as the state’s engine of workforce development, offering affordable degree programs and training that are aligned with the needs of its community along with courses and programs that transfer to other colleges and universities in Indiana. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association.