EDUCATION/CAREER TRACK: Bachelor's degrees in political science and journalism from the University of Missouri; master's in humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas; post-graduate work toward Ph.D., University of Texas at Dallas.

MOST UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE ON THE JOB: On one of my first jobs, at the Birmingham Post-Herald, I was the "make-up editor" for Page One. Earlier in the day, I had picked up a piece of type, and the union representative in the shop was deeply offended. I was just out of college and didn't realize that the union didn't want newsroom people picking up their type. Later in the evening, I could not find a Page One story that I had sent to composing. So I asked the foreman and he said he didn't know where it was. I sent the story again and oversaw its placement on the page. But I didn't realize that the union rep had also put the earlier version of the story on the same page, but hidden it under a different headline for a different story. It was payback time. The paper went to press and we had the same story twice on the page. I was greatly embarrassed the next morning. I didn't mess with the union again.

SOMETHING PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME: Sorry, but there's nothing that interesting that I'm keeping secret.

IF I HAD TWO SPARE HOURS, I WOULD: Sleep.

I AM ALWAYS ENTERTAINED BY: Office politics.