A full Friday for Rather

Dan Rather, anchor of the CBS Nightly News and SHSU's most distinguished alumnus, will be paying a visit to his alma mater tomorrow to help kick off the celebration of the university's 125th anniversary.

Rather's visit to SHSU is the result of over a year's worth of planning and schedule arranging between Rather and University President James Gaertner. Paula Vernick, assistant to the president for special projects, said that Rather was eager to return to SHSU and greatly desired to be involved with the university's 125th anniversary in some way.

Rather will begin Friday with a breakfast meeting with school administrators to discuss the recent changes and improvements around the university. Specifically, according to Vernick, they will be discussing the department of mass communication's recent departure from the department of arts and sciences into the college of humanities and social sciences. Following his breakfast, Rather will then take part in an interview with the Texas Foundation for the Arts who, in association with Houston-based Sunset Productions, will be producing a documentary on SHSU. The documentary is set to broadcast on public television in October.

At 11 a.m., Rather will give a lecture in the Beto Criminal Justice Center Killinger Auditorium. All students and faculty are invited and welcome. As far as the topic of his lecture, that's entirely up to Rather.

"We wanted to let him decide," said Vernick. "We wanted him to open up a little and be able to have fun. We wanted it to be a little free form and not confine him to the constraints (of a predetermined topic)." Vernick reiterated that the entire university community is invited and that live audio-visual coverage will be provided for an overflow audience in the Criminal Justice Center in the courtroom, the lobby, the Strecher Room (A-204), the Bates Room (A-206) and the Flag Room (A-208). Additionally, Cable Channel 7 will provide a live broadcast of Rather's presentation. The doors to the Killinger Auditorium will open for seating at 10:15.

Following his presentation, Rather will then take part in a private lunch with former classmates and professors. The lunch will precede a campus tour with Gaertner that will conclude at the communications building and lead into his 3 p.m. private session with a select group of students from the mass communications department. The group is comprised of students chosen from the department and includes students involved with RTV production as well as several Houstonian staff members.

Interim Chairman of the Department of Mass Communcations, Tony DeMars, expressed his anticipation of Rather's arrival.

"It will be good to meet him and re-establish a relationship with him, as he hasn't been here in a while," he said. "We're also hoping to get some advice from him on what he thinks we could do better here." DeMars also stated that many of his students have expressed "a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of excitement" about Rather's visit.

"(This meeting) will allow for a more intimate setting for students to get to know (Rather) and for some one-on-one stuff," Vernick said.

"I'm looking to gain invaluable knowledge from someone who has really made an impact in the journalism world," said Houstonian layout editor Eric Barton. "I'm looking forward to finding out his opinion on certain things that he can't put inside of stories, such as how he feels about the presidential election, the situation in Iraq, et cetera."

After his meeting with communications students, Rather will meet with historian Ty Cashion, who is authoring a book about the university titled "Sam Houston State University: A History, 1879-2004." Rather has been in correspondence with Cashion and will author the book's foreword.

Later that evening, Rather will be the keynote speaker at the President's Dinner and Concert held in the Lowman Student Center Ballroom. The dinner, Vernick said, is used more to bring in alumni and donors. Once again, Rather's presentation will be free form, allowing him to cover any topic he chooses.

Overall, Vernick said that most staff and faculty are very eager and excited about Rather's visit.

"Just the whole notion that he's going to be here has people excited," she said. "People are excited to see what his reaction will be to what all has changed since last time he was here."