Contact: David West
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

4/7/98

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES - Journalist Robert Ellis Smith will be the featured speaker at Northwestern State University's 11th annual Research Day Thursday, April 16 at 11 a.m. in the A.A. Fredericks Auditorium. Admission is free and open to the public.

His topic will be "Our Vanishing Privacy." A journalist who uses his training as an attorney to report on the individual's right to privacy, Smith is the publisher of Privacy Journal, a monthly newsletter on privacy in the computer age. Smith is a frequent speaker, writer and congressional witness on privacy issues. He has compiled a clearinghouse of information on the subject.

Smith is the author of "Our Vanishing Privacy" and "The Law of Privacy Explained." He has also written "Privacy: How to Protect What's Left of It," "Workrights" and "The Big Brother Book of Lists." Privacy Journal also publishes "Compilation of State and Federal Privacy Laws," "Celebrities and Privacy" and "War Stories," a collection of anecdotes on privacy invasions.

The New York Times said Smith "sounds the alarm about maintaining freedom and privacy in the computer age." The newspaper called him "a principled critic."

Smith has appeared on all three network morning news programs. He has also been a guest on "Face the Nation," "Nightline" and "All Things Considered." Smith has been a regular commentator on American Public Radio's "Marketplace."

From 1970 until 1973, Smith was the assistant director of the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. For nine years he was a news reporter and editor with the Detroit Free Press, Trenton Times, The Southern Courier and Newsday. Last year, Vice President Gore named him to the Civil Liberties Panel of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security.

Research Day is sponsored by the Council for University Research Institute Administrators (CURIA). This event gives NSU students and faculty an opportunity to present their latest work to an audience of peers.

Sessions will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the A.A. Fredericks Center for Creative and Performing Arts and will last until 3:30 p.m.. Research Day will include 50 research presentations by more than 90 NSU faculty and students. Work by CURIA grant recipients for the 1997-98 year will be included.

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