Byron Pitts, CBS Reporter

Thursday, September 6
Sarah Belk Gambrell Auditorium
7:30 p.m.

Byron Pitts, the lead reporter for CBS News' coverage of the Sept. 11 attacks and also an embedded reporter in Iraq, was named National Correspondent on Feb. 2, 2006.

Pitts has been a CBS News correspondent since May 1998. He was based in the Miami (1998-99) and Atlanta (1999-2001) bureaus before moving to New York in January 2001.

Pitts has covered many of the biggest stories of the past few years. He was one of CBS News' embedded correspondents covering the war with Iraq and was recognized for his reporting while under fire within minutes of the fall of the Saddam statue. Pitts was also the network’s primary correspondent at Ground Zero immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. He has covered the war in Afghanistan, the military buildup in Kuwait, the Florida fires, the Elian Gonzalez story, the Florida presidential recount, the mudslides in Central America and the refugee crisis in Kosovo, among many stories.

Before that, Pitts was a correspondent for CBS NEWSPATH, the 24-hour affiliate news service of CBS News, based in Washington, D.C. (1997-98).

He joined CBS News from WSB-TV Atlanta, where he was a general assignment reporter (1994-96). Previously, Pitts was a special assignment reporter for WCBV-TV Boston (1989-94) and a reporter and substitute anchor for WFLA-TV Tampa (1988-89). He also served as a reporter for WESH-TV Orlando (1986-88) and as a military reporter for WAVY-TV Virginia (1984-86). While at WNCT-TV Greenville, N.C., he reported and served as weekend sports anchor (1983-84). Pitts has received several awards, including a national Emmy Award for his coverage of the Chicago train wreck in 1999 and a National Association of Black Journalists Award. He is also the recipient of our Associated Press Awards and six regional Emmy Awards.

Pitts was born on Oct. 21, 1960, in Baltimore, Md. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and speech communication. He lives with his wife in Upper Montclair, N.J.

© MMII, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Lyceum Series
Fall 2007 - Spring 2008 Calendar

Click on speaker's name for more information.

Fall 2007

Thursday, September 6 — Byron Pitts, CBS Reporter
Sarah Belk Gambrell Auditorium
7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, September 26 — Harriet Washington, Editor
and Medical Ethicist
“Medical Apartheid”
Sarah Belk Gambrell Auditorium
7:30 p.m.

Thursday, October 4 — Dr. Na’im Akbar, Psychologist
“What Will Our Legacy Be?”
Sarah Belk Gambrell Auditorium
7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, October 24 — Beatrice Thompson, News Anchor and Talk Show Host
Sarah Belk Gambrell Auditorium
7:30 p.m.

Thursday, November 1 — Lyceum Program in Collaboration with the JCSU Violence
Prevention Coalition
Tony Porter, Educator and Activist
“A Call To Men”
Sarah Belk Gambrell Auditorium
7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, November 14 — Dr. Brian Johnson, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs
“W.E.B. Du Bois, Becoming Agnostic”
Sarah Belk Gambrell Auditorium
7:30 p.m.

SPRING 2008

Thursday, January 24 — Co-Sponsored by the Lyceum
Program and the African and African-American Studies Program
“A Woman, Ain’t I?”
Sojourner Truth as recreated by Kathryn Woods
Dramatic Performance
Sarah Belk Gambrell Auditorium
7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, February 6 — Faculty Showcase Event
Dr. Gregory Thompson
Chair, Department of Music Johnson C. Smith University
Piano and Woodwind Quintet Recital
The Jane M. Smith Memorial Church
7:30 p.m.

Friday, February 15 — Dr. Maha Gingrich's Indian
Dance Students
“Dances of India”
Sarah Belk Gambrell Auditorium
7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, March 18 — Lyceum Program in Collaboration
with THE JCSU Violence Prevention Coalition
Kevin Powell, Political Activist
“Sexism From a Male Perspecitve”
Sarah Belk Gambrell Auditorium
7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, March 25 — Thirteenth Annual World of
Words Poetry Festival
Dr. Patrica Jabbeh Wesley, Poet
Lionel H. Newsom Humanities Building, Room 108
Writing Workshop
4:00 p.m.

Sarah Belk Gambrell Auditorium
Public Reading
7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, March 26 — ANNOUNCEMENT

Due to circumstances beyond our control, these Lyceum Poetry Festival events will be changed. 
Tyehimba Jess is not able to perform at this time.

Thursday, March 27 — Metta S. Sáma, Poet
(Formerly Lydia Melvin)
Lionel H. Newsom Humanities Building, Room 108
Writing Workshop
4:00 p.m.

Sarah Belk Gambrell Auditorium
Public Reading
7:30 p.m.

Friday, March 28 — Thirteenth World of Words
Poetry Festival
Black Ink Monks Performance Poetry
Public Reading
Sarah Belk Gambrell Auditorium
7:30 p.m.

Thursday and Friday, April 10 and 11 — JCSU Ira B. Aldridge
Drama Guild Performance
The Day of Absence by Douglas Turner Ward
Sarah Belk Gambrell Auditorium
7:30 p.m.

Thursday, April 17 — Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon,
Music Historian
“Notes from the Cultural Autobiography of a Freedom Singer”
Sarah Belk Gambrell Auditorium
7:30 p.m.