CANCELED: Award-winning journalist to host Q & A with students to discuss Michigan politics

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This event has been canceled due to bad weather. Stay tuned to cm-life.com for rescheduling information if and when it is made available.

Acclaimed political journalist and moderator Tim Skubick is returning to Central Michigan University.

Skubick will be holding a question and answer session at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the Bovee University Center Auditorium. The event is open to all, admission free and is sponsored by the Hearst Foundation.

Skubick is host of “Off the Record,” a television show that analyzes Michigan politics. He has also authored books, been a producer and anchor and worked as a correspondent among other broadcasting and news jobs.

Maria Marron, chairperson of CMU’s journalism department, said the Hearst Foundation has funded the event as part of a series on visiting professionals. Of the many names of faculty submitted, Skubick was chosen.

“Basically they gave us a $200,000 grant a few years ago to enable us to have a visiting professional series,” she said.

Professor John K. Hartman suggested Skubick as a guest. He said Skubick has come to campus about half a dozen times and has moderated Griffin Policy Forums, where panelists discuss political policies. On this visit, Hartman said he hopes Skubick will field questions about Governor Rick Synder and Michigan legislature.

“He’s the dean of political journalists in Michigan,” Hartman said. “He’s probably covered half a dozen governors, has a great deal of knowledge of the government of Michigan, and he can hopefully have answers to questions people at CMU might have.”

Skubick has won multiple Michigan Emmy and Michigan Association of Broadcasters awards. He was also the recipient of a Silver Circle Award for lifetime achievement from the Michigan Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

In 2008, Skubick was admitted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame. Dr. Lucinda Davenport, a chairperson and director of Michigan State’s School of Journalism, said that a requirement for members of the Hall of Fame is to have made a great impact on journalism in Michigan.

“Mr. Skubick and the fourth estate are synonymous,” Davenport said. “Most of the residents in Michigan have heard Tim Skubick direct the hard questions to politicians and listeners also have learned much about Michigan’s political system from Tim Skubick’s reporting and analysis.”

Freeland senior Kyle Terwillegar said he was a freshman when said he saw Skubick work as a moderator for a Griffin Policy Forum. He said Skubick’s insights into politics had impressed him.

“He seemed to know what he was talking about,” Terwillegar said. “I would go but I have other class obligations.”