OSU grad behind the scenes for Bush's visit to Korea

You probably didn't see his face on any of the news reports of President Bush's recent trip to Korea, but recent OSU grad Dave Smith (MA, June 2005) was the leader of the team that coordinated the press arrangements for the presidential visit. This included preparing for and working with more than 200 international journalists who were on hand. There were 175 reporters traveling with the president. Dave himself spent time with Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, as well as David Green of NPR, John Roberts of CBS and Kelly O'Donnel of NBC.

Dave, who was a captain in the Air Force during his time at OSU, is now Major Dave Smith. He completed his thesis in June and left the following week for his current assignment as Chief of Public Affairs for the 51st Fighter Wing/7th Air Force. He's now stationed at Osan Air Base about 50 miles from the North Korean border. The title of his thesis is, "The 'casualties hypothesis:' The influence of news media coverage of U.S. military deaths on public support for military operations."