2006 EVENT
November 13, 2006

BILL MILLER PUBLIC AFFAIRS REPORTING
Hall of Fame

Next Induction 2008

The Public Affairs Reporting program of the University of Illinois at Springfield is a master's degree program with a professional orientation. The program’s goal is to prepare students to become working journalists covering the issues of importance to their communities.

The Bill Miller Public Affairs Reporting Hall of Fame was established in 2006, by Illinois Issues magazine and WUIS public radio. The Hall recognizes graduates who have had distinguished careers in journalism that embody the program's goals and that reflect the ideals of Bill Miller, an award-winning journalist who served as the program’s director for 19 years.

2006 Inductees

Kathleen Best, class of 1979-80
She joined The Sun in Baltimore in 2005. As assistant managing editor of Sunday, national and foreign news, she directed the paper's coverage of Hurricane Katrina and helped shape the reporting on issues surrounding the war in Iraq. Previously a reporter and editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, she covered the Illinois Statehouse then moved to that paper's Washington, D.C., bureau in 1992. Best also spent five years as an editor at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Bill Lambrecht, class of 1972-73
He is chief of the Washington, D.C., bureau for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and has been a national correspondent for that newspaper since the 1980s. Starting in his student days with the PAR program's first class, he has specialized in politics and the environment. He has been on the campaign trail for every presidential election since 1984 and has written extensively on the global politics of biotechnology and the politics of water.