Tomorrow, Hunter will speak at 10:10 a.m. in the Foster Auditorium of Pattee Library. Since 2004, Hunter has written political policy and foreign affairs editorials for the Chicago Sun-Times.
Before joining the Sun-Times, Hunter worked as the Vancouver bureau chief for the Canadian newsmagazine Macleans.
While working at Macleans, she was one of the first female sportswriters in North America.
For the past eight years, the Foster Conference has hosted free lectures by two distinguished journalism professionals each semester.
But this is the first time in the Foster Conference that both speakers specialize in opinion writing, said Gene Foreman, Larry and Ellen Foster professor of communications.
"Opinion writers are like reporters in many ways," he said. "They still need to gather facts and keep up with the news."
Both Hunter and Williams will read a sample of their writing, give a brief lecture and take questions from students.
These writers were chosen because of their outstanding journalism and extensive experiences in the field, Foreman said.
"Both have done outstanding work," he said. "We picked them because we thought students would benefit from hearing them speak."
Non-journalism students will receive a different perspective of current events from the lectures, said Steven Sampsell, a journalism professor who also helped organize the conference.
"We try to bring writers who will provide a good perspective," he said.
"Their topics of the lectures will be timely, and they've both worked in different parts of the country. Everyone should be able to walk away with more knowledge than they came in with."
