URBANA — National Public Radio political correspondent Don Gonyea will speak at an event from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 13) at Campbell Hall for Public Telecommunication, 300 N. Goodwin Ave., Urbana. The public is invited; tickets are $15 per person.

To make a reservation, call Tracy Wikoff at 800-528-7980. Seating is limited. Light refreshments will be served. Free parking is available in University of Illinois lot B-17 east of Campbell Hall.

Gonyea will speak to UI journalism students earlier in the day. Although he is an NPR national political correspondent based in Washington, D.C., he travels throughout the United States covering campaigns, elections, and the political climate.

As White House correspondent, Gonyea covered the Bush administration's prosecution of wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq. During the 2004 campaign he traveled with President George W. Bush and Democratic nominee John Kerry. In 2008, Gonyea was the lead reporter covering the Barack Obama presidential campaign for NPR, from the Iowa caucuses to victory night in Chicago. He was also there when candidate Obama visited the Middle East and Europe. He continued covering the White House and President Obama until spring 2010, when he moved into his current position.

Gonyea began working at NPR in 1986, reporting from Detroit on labor unions and the automobile industry. He spent countless hours on picket lines and in union halls covering strikes, including numerous lengthy work stoppages at GM in the late 1990s.