Published: November 05, 2009 08:55 pm         

Wall Street Journal columnist comes to ISU Speakers Series

TERRE HAUTE — Jeffrey Zaslow, columnist for The Wall Street Journal and co-author of the international bestseller “The Last Lecture,” will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Indiana State University’s Tilson Auditorium as part of the University Speakers Series. A book signing and reception in Heritage Lounge is planned immediately following his talk. Both the presentation and reception are free.

Zaslow’s Wall Street Journal column, “Moving On,” focuses on life transitions and often attracts wide media interest. That was certainly the case in September 2007 after he attended the final lecture of Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who was battling pancreatic cancer.

His column about the talk sparked a worldwide phenomenon. Tens of millions of people have since viewed footage of the lecture on the Internet and on TV.

“The Last Lecture,” Indiana State’s 2009 Summer Reading Program selection, is now being translated into 36 languages, is a No. 1 New York Times bestseller and has topped bestseller lists around the world. There are more than 4 million copies in print in the United States alone.

Zaslow was drawn to the story of Randy Pausch because he has created a beat unlike almost any other in journalism. While The Wall Street Journal covers the heart of the financial world, Zaslow tends to the hearts of its readers. There are a thousand emotionally charged transitions that people face in their lives, and most come without a road map. That’s the territory of his column — from finding a spouse to losing a job, from a child’s first crush to an old person’s last wishes.

In 2003 and 2005, Zaslow’s column was named the best general-interest column in a newspaper with more than 100,000 circulation by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. In 2008, he received the Distinguished Column Writing Award from the New York Newspaper Publishers Association.

In 2000, Zaslow received the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award, given to a newspaper columnist who exemplifies the ideals and public service work of the noted humorist and columnist. He was honored for using his column to run programs that benefited 47,000 disadvantaged Chicago children.

His latest project was working with Capt. “Sully” Sullenberger on the recent release “Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters.” Sullenberger became one of the most recognized men in America when he landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River in January 2009, narrowly averting disaster.

In “Highest Duty,” the pilot recounts not just the details of that harrowing 5-minute, 8-second flight, but also the lifetime of flight training leading up to it, and its aftermath.

More information about the 2009-10 University Speakers Series can be found at www.indstate.edu/speaker.