Smith Represents U.S. at Media Conference

Kevin Z. Smith, Assistant Professor of Journalism for Pierpont Community & Technical College of Fairmont State University and secretary-treasurer for the Society of Professional Journalists, has been selected one of 10 journalists to represent the United States at an international media conference in Taiwan.

The conference is being sponsored by the Asian Foundation and the Taiwanese Consulate and will be held from Feb. 26- March 3 in Taipei.

As secretary-treasurer, Smith will help lead a delegation of SPJ members to the conference, accompanied by past president Christine Tatum and SPJ executive director Terrance Harper.

The remaining journalists include the following: Avani Patel of the Chicago Tribune, John Kay of CBS Sports, Rebecca Neal of the Indianapolis Star, Adrian Uribarri of Orlando Sentinel, Amy Green of People magazine, Meena Thiruvngadam of the San Antonio Express and Paige Ingram of the Littleton, Colo., newspaper.

The delegation is expected to meet with Taiwanese journalists and assist them with furthering free press rights as well as developing ethical standards.

This will be Smith

s third trip to Asia for SPJ in the last two years. Previously he was invited to attend the Asian Journalist Association's conference in Seoul, South Korea, in November 2006 and he later returned for a conference sponsored by the Korean Journalists Association in March 2007. That trip was held, in part, in North Korea.

Smith has been a member of SPJ for 25 years. He has served as a board member for two years prior to being elected secretary-treasurer in 2007. He was an 18-year member of the Society's ethics committee and chaired that committee for two years. He was an advisor to Miami University (Ohio) student chapter of SPJ for three years. He served as the Society's Project Sunshine representative, advocating open meetings and records in West Virginia from 1990-95.

A graduate of West Virginia University's P.I. Reed School of Journalism, he also has a master's degree in mass communications from Miami University. He was managing editor of the Times West Virginia in Fairmont, prior to taking his current position at Fairmont State in 2004.