Columnist Buchwald to visit Nursing School

Art Buchwald, whose syndicated newspaper column has been making people laugh for over 40 years, will visit the University today to deliver the Nursing School's tenth annual Dean's Distinguished Lecture. Buchwald's columns appear in newspapers around the world and he has become one of the most popular columnists of his time. The lecture series, created in part because the Nursing School has "suffered from a lack of visibility" in the past, is "intended to have a mental health focus," though that intention has traditionally been interpreted in a very broad manner, according to Nursing Dean Claire Fagin. Though some lecturers in the past have included specialists in the mental health fields, Fagin said yesterday that she thinks Buchwald is an appropriate choice because he helps people "to laugh at both ourselves and others." Fagin said she feels the lecture will be entertaining for both Nursing students and the University community as a whole. "I'm very excited," she said. "I think everyone's going to love it. It should be great." Buchwald, whose speech is entitled "Nursing is No Laughing Matter," began his career in journalism in the mid-1940s at the University of Southern California as the managing editor of the campus humor magazine. While at USC, he also wrote a column for the college newspaper, the Daily Trojan, and wrote a variety show called, "No Love Atoll." In 1948, after leaving USC without a degree, Buchwald worked as a correspondent for Variety magazine in Paris. He took a trial column for The New York Daily Tribune and his career as a columnist blossomed. His speech will begin at 4 p.m. at Harrison Auditorium in the University Museum and is open to the public.

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