FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 14, 2008
Contact: Anika Mitchell Perkins
(662) 329-7124
aperkins@pa.muw.edu

Sorrels to be honored with tree planting at MUW

COLUMBUS, Miss., – Faculty, staff and former students of Mississippi University for Women will pay tribute to a beloved journalism professor on Monday, Nov. 24.

A tree planting ceremony to honor William Wright Sorrels, known to many as “Wild Bill,” will be held at noon on the north side of Cromwell Communications Center.

Former MUW students Mark McCrary, a 1989 graduate and preacher in Louisville, Ky., and Mark Largent, a graphic designer in Dallas, Texas, will return to campus to speak at the memorial service.

Sorrels, who died this summer at the age of 83, held the Harriet Stark Gibbons Distinguished Professor of Journalism Chair at MUW for 10 years.
He was a former Scripps Howard editor, president of The Evansville Press Company in Indiana and managing editor of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis.

Dr. Martin Hatton ‘88, chair of the Department of Communication, had the opportunity to work with Sorrels as a student and later as a colleague.
“I had tremendous respect for Bill as a student. I was intimidated by his professional knowledge level,” he said. “It was a huge honor to work side by side with him when I returned as a faculty member. He was one of my professional mentors.”

The service is open to the public.