Newswise — Broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff will be the keynote speaker at the David Wilkins Award for Excellence in Legislative Leadership Dinner Monday, Jan. 11 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
The dinner, sponsored by the Riley Institute at Furman University, recognizes a state legislator who “embodies the highest principles of leadership based on integrity, compassion, vision, civility and courage.”
Dan Cooper, the first Republican elected to the S.C. Statehouse from Anderson County and a legislator since 1990, will be the 2010 recipient of the award.
The event is held in conjunction with the opening of the legislative session.
Woodruff has covered politics and other news for more than three decades at CNN, NBC and PBS. She currently is senior correspondent for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.”
A graduate and trustee emerita of Duke University, she has held jobs from White House correspondent to anchor of numerous news and documentary programs.
She has taught at Duke and Harvard and is a founding co-chair of the International Women’s Media Foundation, which promotes and encourages women in communication industries worldwide.
In 2007, Woodruff completed an extensive project on the views of young Americans called “Generation Next: Speak Up. Be Heard.” Two hour-long documentaries aired on many PBS stations, along with a series of reports on “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” NPR and in USA Today.
The Riley Institute at Furman established the David H. Wilkins Legislative Leadership Program in 2006 in honor of the former speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives and former U.S. ambassador to Canada.
Cooper, the 2010 Wilkins Award winner, was elected chairman of the S.C. House Ways and Means Committee in 2005. In that role, he manages the House version of the state budget and is the only member from the Upstate of South Carolina on the State Budget and Control Board. The Riley Institute is named for Furman graduate and former South Carolina governor and U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley. It offers a board array of programs designed to engage students and citizens across South Carolina in the various arenas of politics, public policy and public leadership.
The Jan. 11 event will feature a reception at 6 p.m. followed by the dinner and award presentation beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are $125 each with table sponsorships available. To purchase tickets, call 864-235-8330.
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