The Race for the Presidency: A Reporter’s Perspective

Published: February 21, 2012 | Read Time: 2 minutes

It’s election season, and the fight for the White House is heating up on all sides. Fortunately, on Thursday, February 23, Southern Utah University's campus and local communities will have an opportunity to gain an insider’s perspective from in-the-know reporter Richard Oppel Jr. of The New York Times.

Oppel is the Times’ lead correspondent on the republican presidential nomination, currently the most dynamic and hotly contested race in the election.

The lecture will begin at 11:30 a.m. in the Great Hall of the Hunter Conference Center and is free to students and community members alike.

A reporter for The New York Times since 2002, Oppel’s body of work has focused largely on foreign and domestic terrorism. In 2003, Oppel served his first reporting rotation in Iraq and later worked from locations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Israel-Lebanon. He has completed over twenty embedded reporting missions with the U.S. Marine Corps and one with the Golani Brigade in Israel.

Prior to his tenure at The Times in New York City, Oppel served as the publication’s BizDay Dallas correspondent, covering the nation’s energy crisis and other business-related issues. Preceding that assignment, Oppel worked for the Dallas Morning News, covering business and government affairs.

Oppel’s professional career began at the Philadelphia Inquirer where he worked as a freelance reporter. During the ’90s, he reported for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Lost Angeles Times.

This special event is sponsored by SUU’s Office of the Provost, the Michael O. Leavitt Center for Politics and Public Service, SUUSA, the Society of Professional Journalists and SUU News.

The event has been made possible by The New York Times, who also graciously offer complimentary copies of its daily publication to SUU students in the Sharwan Smith Student Center.

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Contact Information:

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