Retired CWU professor heads to China to judge speaking contest

Ellensburg resident Phil Backlund, a retired Central Washington University professor of communication studies, is traveling to Beijing this week to be a judge in a national public speaking contest.

Backlund will judge Chinese junior high students on their public speaking skills in the “21st Century New Oriental Cup” National High School and Primary School English Speaking Competition, sponsored by the China Daily newspaper.

The competition will be held at Beijing Foreign Studies University on March 19 and 20.

Read the rest of this story by Nicole Klauss in the Daily Record.