LITERATURE + LECTURES

The St. Martin de Porres Society, Black Student Union and Social Justice Program at the University of St. Thomas will host a Black History Month lecture by Catherine Straight, (pictured) national assignments editor at USA Today, from 6 to 8:15 p.m., Friday, Feb. 26, in the Menil Museum Foyer, 1515 Sul Ross. The lecture will be followed by a brief tour of the Menil’s African Art Exhibit. Straight will speak about the importance of mentorship, and the journey from her small hometown in Mississippi to working for one of the most widely-read newspapers in the country.

Straight is currently the senior assignment editor for National News at USA Today, the country's largest print circulation newspaper with 1.9 million readers. As national editor, Catherine leads a team of editors and reporters across the nation who cover breaking news and produce investigative journalism for print and for usatoday.com. She joined the newspaper in February in 2006.

Prior to coming to USA Today, Straight was managing editor at the St. Paul Pioneer Press in the Twin Cities. She was deputy managing editor of news and a reporter for The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville.

In her role as managing editor in St. Paul, she was part of the first-responder coverage team from Knight Ridder newspapers who coordinated coverage of Hurricane Katrina on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. That team earned a public service Pulitzer for coverage in the Sun Herald newspaper in Gulfport, Mississippi.

She is a native of Mississippi, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. She was inducted into the university's Journalism Hall of Fame in 2007.

Named in honor of one of the most beloved Catholic saints, African-American alumni have formed the St. Martin de Porres Society to maximize alumni participation at UST. The Society also aims to support the recruitment, retention, development and graduation of UST’s current and prospective African-American students in the surrounding Houston community.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Ryane Jackson at 713-525-2147 or e-mail jacksork@stthom.edu.