White House Staffer, Writer To Speak To Journalism Students

by Jenifer Fergason, Student Newswriter

Jane Hampton Cook, a Baylor University graduate who now serves as deputy director of internet news services for the White House, will speak to students in Dr. Doug Ferdon's journalism history and magazine and feature writing classes at 9 and 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 9, in room 245 of the Castellaw Communications Center.
A writer and public speaker, Cook has spent more than a decade as a professional communicator in the fields of education and politics. For the past five years she has worked for President George W. Bush, first in Texas as his state web site director and then at the White House. She designed the White House web site, whitehouse.gov, and created the White House web site for children, whitehousekids.gov.
Cook is the recipient of the White House History Fellowship in Precollegiate Education from the White House Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians. With the fellowship, she will write Bear Cubs for Mr. Jefferson: White House Moments and American Changes, a book of historical sketches on important events that emanated from the White House for children ages 8 to 13. Cook has written one book, Maggie Houston: My Father's Honor, which tells the story of Maggie Houston and her father, Texas Gov. Sam Houston, who must choose between the Union and the Confederacy on the eve of the Civil War.
A Fort Worth native, Cook earned her bachelor's degree from Baylor in 1992 and a master's degree from Texas A&M University in 1995. She and her husband, Dr. Kim Cook, reside in Alexandria, Va.
For more information, contact Ferdon at 710-3261.