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Last updated on Monday, April 17, 2017
(VINCENNES) - Tim Swarens, opinion editor of The Indianapolis Star, will be honored at Vincennes University’s 211th Commencement on April 29, 2:00 p.m. (EST), at the VU Physical Education Complex.
The ceremony will be broadcast live on WVUT 22.1 and also streamed live on wvut.org.
VU President Chuck Johnson will address the graduates. Presiding at Commencement will be Dr. Laurel Smith, provost and vice president of Instructional Services. Providing the welcoming remarks will be Phil Rath, vice president of Financial Services and Government Relations.
VU will award an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters to Swarens, who has
served as opinion director of The Indianapolis Star since 2003. A 1981 graduate of Vincennes University's Journalism program, Swarens earned a bachelor's degree in Journalism in 1983 from Indiana University, where he served as managing editor of the Indiana Daily Student in 1983.
Before joining The Indianapolis Star, he was an editor at The Miami Herald. His commentary has been published in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. He has also appeared on CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. Swarens is currently
working on a 16-month-long project on child trafficking with publication planned across the USA Today Network in October.
Swarens was the editor or writer on projects that in recent years have won awards from Sigma Delta Chi, National Headliners, Scripps Howard, American Society of Newspaper Editors, and Robert F. Kennedy Excellence in Journalism. He is also the 2016 recipient of the Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship for Editorial Writing.
Swarens has played a leadership role at The Star on a wide variety of issues, including leading a nationally acclaimed project that explored educational and social challenges in a local high school, an effort that led to the creation of a communitywide initiative, "Our Children/Our City." The initiative has inspired thousands of people to mentor and tutor children and to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to local nonprofit organizations.
Swarens has also created and led projects that achieved lasting results concerning state government ethics, high school graduation rates, urban crime, juvenile justice, and child protection, including service as part of community discussions with top political, business, and academic leaders.
His role at The Star also includes helping shape annual strategic plans on a director level, including service as an interim member of the Executive Committee in 2012. He has inspired staff members to achieve excellence, earning ten national awards.
A native of Lawrenceville, Ill., Swarens is married to a 1980 VU alumna, Tina, who works as a digital editor at The Star. They have four children.
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