Gerald Boyd, former managing editor of The New York Times, will deliver the Greg Freeman Legacy Lecture at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 21 in Graham Chapel.
Boyd’s talk is titled “Meeting Challenges in Journalism, From Race to Credibility.”
Prior to Boyd’s 20-year tenure at the Times, he worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
After graduating from the University of Missouri with a journalism degree, he began working for the paper as a copyboy in 1973. He worked his way up to be the newspaper’s White House correspondent.
In 1983, he joined the Times and soon was a part of its national political team. After the 1984 presidential election, he became one of the paper’s two White House correspondents.
In 1991, Boyd became a senior editor and was appointed special assistant to the managing editor. Soon thereafter, he was named metropolitan editor, managing a staff of more than 100 reporters and editors.
Throughout his career at both papers, Boyd has won several awards and has had many reporters win a Pulitzer Prize under his editorial watch.
Boyd founded the St. Louis Association of Black Journalists in 1977 and served as its first president.
Throughout his career, Boyd has worked to increase the number of minority students in journalism. While in St. Louis, he established a journalism workshop for area high-school students, and he has taught journalism at Howard University and at the University of Missouri’s journalism workshop for minority students.
Boyd’s lecture is being given in memory of Freeman, a Post-Dispatch columnist and host of an interview show called “St. Louis On The Air” on KWMU-FM.
A man who contributed much to St. Louis and its community, he was loved and respected by many for his insightful and compassionate words that called for understanding and inclusion. Freeman died at 46 in December.
A 1977 Arts & Sciences alumnus, Freeman was also known for his contributions to the student newspaper Student Life, for which he served as co-editor in chief during the 1976-77 academic year. Later, he took a leadership role in establishing a new board and served as founding president of Washington University Student Media Inc., the nonprofit corporation that serves as publisher of Student Life.
Boyd’s talk is free and open to the public
For information on the event, as well as parking assistance, call 935-5285 or go online to wustl.edu.