Andy Rooney To Kick Off The Albany Academies' Alumni/ae Speaker Series On September 19

ALBANY, NY (09/12/2008)(readMedia)-- (Albany) - Andy Rooney, a 1938 graduate of The Albany Academy who is known to millions for his wry, humorous and sometimes controversial essays that have been the signature end piece of 60 Minutes for decades, will kick off the Alumni/ae Speaker Series at The Albany Academies on Friday, September 19.

Rooney will be speaking from 11:30 a.m. to 12:25 p.m. in Caird Chapel on the West Campus (The Albany Academy building) -- located at 135 Academy Road in Albany. He will be available for private media interviews from 10:45-11 a.m.

Rooney has won three Emmy Awards for his essays, which now number more than 800. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Emmy in 2003. Rooney has always considered himself a writer who appears on television. In addition to his 60 Minutes essays, he has written a national newspaper column for Tribune Media Services since 1979, published numerous articles in major magazines, and is the author of 13 books -- with the most recent, Common Nonsense, published in 2002 by Public Affairs.

His rich body of work was recognized by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists when he was presented with its Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award in June 2003. "The most felicitous nonfiction writer in television" is how Time magazine once described Rooney, who has won the Writers Guild Award for Best Script of the Year six times -- more than any other writer in the history of the medium.

The Alumni/ae Speaker Series is sponsored by the Alumni/ae Associations of The Albany Academies. The purpose of the forums is to offer students a better understanding of the importance of leadership at the Academies -- and how it will impact their future careers.

The Albany Academies is home to the two campuses of The Albany Academy (West Campus) and Albany Academy for Girls (East Campus), which share a nearly 200-year-old tradition of outstanding, single-gender independent school education. Both campuses bring with them deeply treasured values of community, tradition and purpose to the newly formed school known as The Albany Academies.

The Albany Academies is committed to developing the potential of the whole individual by building a community that fosters scholarship, leadership, character, service and creativity.

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