The communication and journalism department at UW-Eau Claire is sponsoring broadcaster and poet Jean Feraca’s presentation to communication students at 1 p.m. Oct. 19 in Room 102 of Hibbard Hall. The event is open to all UW-Eau Claire students, faculty and staff.

Feraca will talk about her experience in adapting to media audiences ranging from radio, print and the Web. She joined WPR in l983 as humanities producer after leaving NPR affiliate
WGUC-FM to become a freelance arts, humanities and general assignment reporter for National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered."

As Wisconsin Public Radio's distinguished senior broadcaster, Feraca was host and co-producer of the Ideas Network's award-winning call-in news and cultural affairs program "Conversations with Jean Feraca" from 1990-2003. In 1996 she won the National Telemedia Council's Distinguished Media Award for the show.

Apart from a distinguished career in public radio that spanned 27 years, Jean Feraca is also a noted poet. She was the recipient of The Nation's l975 Discovery Award and was named "one of the most promising poets of her generation." She will be inducted as a fellow of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters later this month.

Feraca published her first book of poems, "South From Rome: Il Mezzogiorno," with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She received a Wisconsin Arts Board Fellowship to complete "Crossing the Great Divide," her second book, which was published in l992 and nominated for a Pushcart Prize.