FIRST GRAUEL MEMORIAL LECTURE SET FOR MARCH 18

A St. Louis University associate professor and former student of the late Southeast professor Dr. H.O. Grauel will present the first H.O. Grauel Memorial Lecture March 18 at Southeast Missouri State University.

Dr. Avis Meyer will speak at the free event scheduled for 4 p.m. in Rose Theatre. Title of his lecture is "H.O. Grauel: From More to Less." A reception will follow in the theater lobby.

Meyer, who previously taught at Southeast, earned his bachelor of arts degree in English and biology and his master of arts degree in English from Southeast. He earned his doctor of philosophy degree in English from St. Louis University. He was awarded the first honorary teaching fellowship at Southeast in 1971.

The lecture series has been established to honor Grauel, who taught at Southeast from 1928 to 1971. He chaired the English department for many years and directed the division of English, foreign languages, philosophy and speech. Grauel died Nov. 15 at 94. Southeast's language arts building is named for him.

Dr. Martin Jones, dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Southeast, said the lecture series has been established as a tribute to Grauel. Jones said the goal of the series is to bring in "scholars who are well-known and award-winning teachers" and former students of Grauel's who have excelled in language arts.

Dr. Henry Sessoms, English professor, said the lecture will be held annually on or near Grauel's birthday, which was March 18. Sessoms said the English department plans to create an endowment to fund the lecture series.

Donations designated for the Grauel lecture series should be sent to the Southeast Missouri University Foundation, Sessoms said.

Meyer teaches in both the communication and English departments at St. Louis University.

He is co-founder and co-director of the Political-Journalist Certificate Program and co-director of the Writing Certificate Program at SLU. In 1994, the Avis Meyer Advising Award was established at SLU in honor of his 20 years of advising the student newspaper on the SLU campus. In both 1990 and 1992, he was named Advisor of the Year in Missouri by the Missouri Collegiate Newspaper Association.

He has taught courses in journalism, editing, U.S.-Soviet press development, film aesthetics, English and advanced composition, advanced writing and editing, and honors English.