New York Times Columnist to Deliver Honors College Keynote

New York Times columnist David Brooks speaks at UM Thursday for the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College Fall Convocation. (Submitted photo)

David Brooks, acclaimed author and New York Times columnist, is the keynote speaker Thursday (Oct. 20) evening for the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College’s Fall Convocation at the University of Mississippi.

The public program begins at 7 p.m. in the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts. This year’s annual assembly is among the signature investiture events for the university’s 17th chancellor, Jeffery S. Vitter.

“It is truly an honor for the university to host David Brooks as the keynote speaker at the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College Fall Convocation,” said Vitter, who will introduce Brooks. “It is an exciting time in the life of our university, especially with the 20th anniversary of SMBHC coming up in the spring.

“The opportunity for our students to hear from a well-known and critically-acclaimed commentator and author like David Brooks is illustrative of the transformative power of higher education.”

Brooks’ comments promise to be intriguing and insightful, especially at this pivotal point in U.S. history, said Douglass Sullivan-González, Honors College dean.

“Mr. Brooks is a gifted columnist, frequent commentator on ‘PBS Newshour’ and he will reflect on the coming presidential election and its impact on American politics,” Sullivan- González said. “With the third debate concluded Wednesday evening, Mr. Brooks will provide us his insights on the tectonic shifts in U.S. politics and the possible directions and repercussions on a Clinton or Trump presidency.”

An American political and cultural commentator, Brooks has worked as a reporter and later op-ed editor for The Wall Street Journal, as a senior editor at The Weekly Standard from its inception, as a contributing editor at both Newsweek and The Atlantic Monthly.

He is the author of several books, including “Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There” (Simon & Schuster, 2000), “On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense” (Simon & Schuster, 2004), “The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement” (Random House 2011) and “The Road to Character” (Random House, 2015).

Born in Toronto, Brooks spent his early years in the middle-income Stuyvesant Town housing development in lower Manhattan. His family moved to the Philadelphia, and he graduated from Radnor High School. He earned a degree in history from the University of Chicago and later was awarded honorary degrees from Williams College, New York University, Brandeis University and Occidental College.

Upon graduation, Brooks became a police reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago, a wire service owned jointly by the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun Times. He applied and was accepted as an intern on William F. Buckley’s National Review. After his internship, Brooks spent some time at the conservative Hoover Institute at Stanford University and then landed a job writing movie reviews for the Washington Times.

Brooks was hired by the Wall Street Journal, where he worked first as an editor of the book review section. The WSJ posted him as an op-ed columnist to Brussels, whence he covered Russia (making numerous trips to Moscow), the Middle East, South Africa and European affairs.

On his return, Brooks joined the Weekly Standard and edited an anthology, “Backward and Upward: The New Conservative Writing” (Vintage Books, 1996).

The New York Times’ editorial page editor, Gail Collins, recruited Brooks as a replacement for outgoing columnist William Safire, and he joined the staff in September 2003.

For more information about the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, visithttp://www.honors.olemiss.edu/.

By Edwin Smith and Ole Miss News Desk

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