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DALLAS (SMU) – Award-winning journalist and best-selling author Ron Fourier will be the featured speaker for the 2017 Public Life | Personal Faith lecture and luncheon, scheduled for noon to 1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, at the Martha Mack Proctor Grand Ballroom at SMU.

Immediately preceding the luncheon, from 10 to 11 a.m., Fournier will conduct a colloquium that is free and open to the public. This event – an informal question-and-answer session with the author for students, faculty and others – will take place in the Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Great Hall.

At both events, Fournier will speak on “Love That Boy: A Parent's Expectations."

Fournier is the author of The New York Times best-seller Love that Boy: What Two Presidents, Eight Road Trips and My Son Taught Me About a Parent’s Expectations. The book is a personal account of what Fournier learned about himself and others through the personal journey he and his family encountered after his son Tyler’s autism diagnosis.

A native of Michigan, Fournier is the associate publisher for Crain’s Detroit Business. He previously served as editor-in-chief of the National Journal for two years and as senior political columnist for the National Journal and The Atlantic. Before joining Atlantic Media, Fournier was Washington bureau chief for The Associated Press and spent 20 years with the wire service. 

Fournier is the author of two books and has won many journalism awards, including the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Award and the White House Correspondents’ Association Merriman Smith Memorial Award (a record four times).

The Public Life | Personal Faith events are sponsored by the family of Pat and Jane Bolin. Pat Bolin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at EagleCorp and Eagle Oil & Gas Co. in Dallas, is a graduate of ÃÛÌÒ½´Methodist University (B.A. ’73) and 2010 recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the ÃÛÌÒ½´Cox School of Business.

The PL|PF series, in its seventh year, is a fundraising and outreach event of Perkins School of Theology in service to the larger community. The lecture and colloquium provide an opportunity for participants to engage scholars on topics related to why and how personal faith shapes public life.

For more information and to register for the luncheon: /Perkins/Give/plpf

, founded in 1911, is one of five official University-related schools of theology of . Degree programs include the Master of Divinity, Master of Sacred Music, Master of Theological Studies, Master of Arts in Ministry, Master of Theology, Doctor of Ministry, and Doctor of Pastoral Music as well as the Ph.D., in cooperation with at SMU’s of Humanities and Sciences.