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Weinger wows BBC television audience

April 10, 2005

KALAMAZOO--What started more than a year ago with an e-mail message from the British Broadcasting Corp. seeking information on a Western Michigan University researcher led to an appearance this winter by Dr. Susan Weinger, associate professor of social work, on the BBC program "Child of Our Time" watched by some six million viewers.

It all started in January 2004 when the BBC sent an e-mail to the WMU Office of University Relations looking for detailed information on Weinger's research on children and their perception of class. She had been the topic of several earlier university news releases.

Two of Weinger's papers were faxed to the news organization, but it wasn't until May that the BBC, using an e-mail address provided by Mark Schwerin in university relations actually contacted Weinger, who was then conducting new research and teaching in Cameroon under a Fulbright Scholar Award.

The BBC wanted Weinger to fly to London to be interviewed. But since Weinger had conducted her research years earlier, she needed to refresh her memory. Schwerin sent her papers to her in Cameroon via Federal Express, with the papers arriving just days before her departure to London.

Media contact: Cheryl Roland, 269 387-8400, cheryl.roland@wmich.edu

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