(left to right) Dr. George Meetze, Sen. McKinley Washington, Mr. Hartley Powell and Dr. John Carson
Drummond Center Taps Tim Russert As Awards Speaker
Erskine College’s Drummond Center for Statesmanship has announced its first awards banquet will be held to recognize a citizen of South Carolina for extraordinary service and statesmanship on Feb. 24, 2003, at 7 p.m. at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Columbia, featuring guest speaker Tim Russert, a political analyst for NBC television.
Tickets for the event are $125 each and can be purchased through the Erskine Development Office by calling 864-379-6515. Funds go to support the Drummond Center and its programs at Erskine College.
Russert is the moderator of “Meet the Press,” and political analyst for NBC’s “Nightly News with Tom Brokaw,” and the “Today Show.” He also anchors “The Tim Russert Show,” a weekly program on CNBC that examines the role of the media in American society. Russert is the senior vice president and Washington bureau chief for NBC News, and is also contributing anchor for MSNBC.
In 2001, The Washingtonian magazine named Russert the best and most influential journalist in Washington, D.C., describing “Meet the Press” as “the most interesting and important hour on television.”
At the Drummond Center Board of Directors meeting Monday in Columbia, Chair Paula Harper Bethea said, “Tim Russert is one of the most sought-after speakers in the United States, and he only does speeches like this once a month. We were really fortunate to get him.
“He has already called to get our definition of statesmanship, and for more information on Sen. Drummond, but it is what we are trying to do here that has really caught his fancy,” she said. “We look forward to seeing how he ties that in with the rest of the world.”
Sen. John Drummond, for whom the center is named, stopped by the meeting on Veteran’s Day and the former WWII pilot said, “I hope all the people who come after me will be affected in a positive way by this center. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you are doing, not for John Drummond, but for putting personal feelings aside and doing what is best for South Carolina.
“I know this will be successful,” Drummond said. “I look forward to coming to Erskine College one day and seeing young folks there hard at work.”
Samuel Tenenbaum
Paula Harper Bethea
