Savannah State University will host its 65th annual Southern Regional Press Institute on February 18 and 19, 2016, on campus.

Serena Garcia, communications director for AARP Georgia, an alumna of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications, will bring the opening address at 9 a.m. on Thursday, February 18, in the King-Frazier student center ballroom, kicking off two days of in-depth workshops.

The event concludes with the annual Milledge-Owens Awards Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, February 19. The luncheon keynote speaker is Monica Kaufman Pearson, the first woman and first minority to anchor the daily evening news in Atlanta, Georgia.

In honor of its 65th year, SRPI will invest its inaugural inductees into a new Hall of Fame, honoring notable figures who have contributed to the organization and to the field of journalism.

The annual event presents speakers and workshops to help high school and college students acquire skills in communications. Workshops in photography, writing for multiple platforms, news, magazine and feature writing, new media, copy-editing, headline writing, broadcasting, public relations, advertising, and newspaper layout and design are instructed by media professionals from across the nation.