Ellen Ratner, White House correspondent and president of Talk Radio News Service, will discuss topics ranging from the impact of talk radio, to media bias, to the morality of the death penalty during her week in-residence at Hope College as a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow.
Ratner will be at Hope on Monday-Friday, March 4-8. She will be speaking to several Hope classes or campus groups during her five-day visit, and many of the presentations will be open to the general public. Admission is free.
She will examine issues related to capital punishment on Monday, March 4, at 11 a.m. in room 110 of Lubbers Hall, and on Tuesday, March 5, at 7 p.m. in the Cook Hall lounge.
She will discuss the impact of talk radio and talk television on Monday, March 4, at 1 p.m. and on Tuesday, March 5, at 9:30 a.m., both in room 221 of Lubbers Hall.
Ratner will consider issues related to healing and health on Tuesday, March 5, at 3:30 p.m. in room 260 of the 100 E. 8th St. building and Wednesday, March 6, at 2 p.m. in Wichers Auditorium of Nykerk Hall of Music.
She will discuss careers in journalism on Wednesday, March 6, at 7 p.m. in the Cook Hall lounge.
Ratner will explore the issues of bias in the media and of the media's role in politics on Thursday, March 7, at 11 a.m. in Multicultural Room-East of Phelps Hall.
She will discuss topics including reproductive care, prison issues with women, and women and elective office on Thursday, March 7, at 1:30 p.m. in room 135 of Van Zoeren Hall. She will discuss women in broadcasting and other women's issues on Thursday, March 7, at 3 p.m. in the Granberg Room of the Van Wylen Library.
She will discuss issues of macroeconomics, including political debate concerning economic stimulus, Social Security and tax reform, on Friday, March 8, at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. in room B30 of Van Zoeren Hall. As White House correspondent with Talk Radio News Service, Ratner provides White House and Congressional news to 18 individual stations. She is also a political analyst with Fox News Service.
Among other activities, she co-hosts Good Day USA's "The Washington Reality Check," a daily political talk show syndicated to more than 120 stations nationwide; co-hosts "New World Chronicle," a syndicated foreign affairs program; hosts "The Health Show," a daily talk radio show focusing on health care issues; and serves as political correspondent for "The Talk Radio Countdown Show," a weekly best-of-talk-radio program syndicated to more than 70 stations nationwide. She is also Washington bureau chief and political editor of "Talkers Magazine," a talk radio trade publication, and serves as a panelist with "Headlines and Deadlines," a media criticism program of the NET Television Network.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Ratner graduated from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vt. She earned a master's in education from Harvard University.
From 1973 to 1986, she served as co-director and co-founder of Boundaries Therapy Center in Acton, Mass. From 1974 to 1981, she was also director of the Psychiatric Day Treatment Program at South Shore Mental Center in Quincy, Mass.
In 1984, she joined the Addiction Recovery Corporation as a consultant in program development. From 1986 to 1990, she served as vice president of research, development and service at the corporation, and as director of its ARC Research Foundation. She served as principal investigator for an outcome research study, determining treatment outcome factors in alcoholism and chemical dependency treatment.
Ratner is author of "The Other Side of the Family: A Book for Recovery from Abuse, Incest and Neglect," published by Health Communications Inc. in 1990. She recently wrote "101 Ways to Get Your Progressive Ideas on Talk Radio," published by National Press Books and "Talkers Magazine."
She has served on the board of several non-profit organizations and currently serves on the boards of Goddard College and the National Association of Radio Talk Show Hosts, as well as the development board of The Duke University Center for Living.
Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows connect a liberal education with the world beyond the campus by bringing thoughtful and successful practitioners to colleges for a week of classes and informal discussions with students and faculty. Fellows, who include government officials, business leaders, journalists, environmentalists and medical ethicists, are matched with small colleges chosen for their commitment to the goals of the program. Together they help to equip students for the social, political and economic settings they will enter and illuminate the roles they may play as professionals and informed citizens.
Fellows are scheduled for formal presentations in classrooms, panels and public platforms, and informal encounters at meals, in student centers, clubs, residence halls, career counseling and individual sessions. The week-long visit allows Fellows to explicate their ideas fully and often leads to continuing ties.
The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation has developed and conducted programs in higher education since 1945. More than 200 colleges have participated in the Visiting Fellows program since 1973.
The 100 E. 8th St. building is located between College and Columbia avenues. Cook Hall is located on the north side of 10th Street between College and Columbia avenues. Lubbers Hall is located on the south side of 10th Street between College and Columbia avenues. Nykerk Hall of Music is located along the former 12th Street between College and Columbia avenues. Phelps Hall is located on Columbia Avenue at 10th Street. The Van Wylen Library is located on College Avenue at Graves Place (11th Street).