FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 13, 2000 CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 DRAKE WRITERS AND CRITICS SERIES OPENS OCT. 26 Drake University's Writers and Critics Series will open the fall season on Thursday, Oct. 26, with "A Forum on English Language Skills in Business and Education." The event, which is free and open to the public, will start at 7:30 p.m. in the Honors Lounge of Medbury Hall, 1317 28th St. The forum will be presented by Bill Piper, manager of language programs for Counterpoint Language Consultants Inc.; and Molly Weigel, assessment specialist for Educational Testing Services. Piper's work involves managing projects and programs that provide instruction in 16 languages and translations from nearly 30 languages. He also has supervised programs that provide instruction in all levels of English language skills to clients from Western Europe, China, Japan, Latin America, Russia and Africa. As an assessment specialist for Educational Testing Service, Weigel develops and reviews reading comprehension and other test items for the Academic Profile examination and for the verbal section of the GRE and GMAT examinations. The Writers and Critics Series is sponsored by the English department and the Center for the Humanities of Drake University. For more information, call (515) 271-2853.