A stylish writer with a humanizing touch on any issue, public or personal, Ellen Goodman is an American original.

Her abundant talents—intellect, wit, style, news judgement—set her apart with an élan uniquely her own. Her Pulitzer Prize winning commentary appears in more than 450 newspapers, making her one of the two most syndicated columnists in the United States.

One of those rare writers and thinkers who sense emerging shifts in our public and private lives, Goodman alters perceptions of confounding issues. "She takes current events and sees their universal truths," says the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. Goodman has been an innovative force in American Journalism. She once said, "I think readers need to be less alienated from editorial pages" and made them so by expandng the debate on op-ed pages. She has commented on the tumult of social change and its impact on families, and shattered the mold of men writing exclusively about politics. She is widely acclaimed as a voice of sanity, and readers depend on her to help them make sense of their changing lives and relationships.

IIn addition to the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary, Goodman has won many other awards, including the American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award in 1988. She received the Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights in 1988. In 1993, at its Seventh Annual Exceptional Merit Media Award ceremony, the National Women's Political Caucus gave her the President's Award. in 1994, the Women's Research and Education Institute presented her with their American Woman Award.

Goodman's first job was at Newsweek as a researcher, at a time when only men became writers. She landed a job as a reporter for the Detroit Free Press in 1965 and, in 1967, for the Boston Globe where she began writing her column. Her column was syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group beginning in 1976. Goodman's first book, Turning Points, detailed the effect of the changing roles of women on the family. Five collections of her columns have been published: Close to Home, At Large (Summit Books 1981), Keeping in Touch, Making Sense, and Value Judgements. She is also co-author with Patricia O'Brien of I Know Just What You Mean: The Power of Friendship in Women's Lives.

Suggested speech topics:
Women and Social Change
The Function of the Media in a Free Society: Is the Personal Too Political?
The Power of Friendship in Women's Lives
Women's Right to Choose

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