He’s edited humor columnist Dave Barry and tackled weighty issues such as 2010’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill. His book “The Hunt for Bin Laden” became the No. 1-selling Kindle single on Amazon.com. Journalist, writer and editor Tom Shroder has written and edited awarded-winning news articles and books over the course of nearly 40 years, and now he’s coming to USF Sarasota-Manatee. On September 22 from 5-8pm, Shroder will kick off this year’s “Knowledge-A-Bull Speaker Series” at USF Sarasota-Manatee’s Selby Auditorium.  His career included stints at the Cincinnati Enquirer and Miami Herald, including at the Herald’s Tropic magazine. As editor of The Washington Post Magazine from 2001 to 2009 he oversaw Gene Weingarten's two Pulitzer Prize-winning stories, “Fiddler in the Subway” and “Fatal Distraction.” But Shroder is perhaps best-known for his book “Acid Test: LSD, Ecstasy, and the Power to Heal,” which won praise from a host of critics and authors. In addition to writing, Shroder has built a remarkable resume as a writing coach and editor, collaborating with authors from Dana Priest and Weingarten to Tony Kornheiser, the sports writer and talk show host, and humorist Barry. He co-authored the book “Fire on the Horizon: The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster” with John Konrad.  Shroder was born in New York City in 1954, the son of a novelist and a builder, and the grandson of MacKinlay Kantor, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his Civil War novel “Andersonville.”    “The Knowledge-A-Bull Speaker Series was developed to bring world-renowned experts to our campus in order to engage the community in thoughtful discussion,” said Dennis Stover, regional vice chancellor for University Advancement. “We hope that by bringing people like Tom Shroder to the campus that the community will take an opportunity to visit our campus and begin to associate us with these thought-provoking conversations.”

USF Sarasota-Manatee