Cavalier Daily Managing Editor Mandy Biles isn’t looking forward to Sept. 26, the date of the Fourth Annual Cavalier Daily Journalism Conference.

She’s taking the LSAT that day.

But that afternoon, shortly after chewing through a forest of No. 2 pencils, Biles will moderate a panel discussion with Baltimore Sun investigative reporter Gary Cohn, feature writer Mike D’Orso, USA Today sports writer Mike Dodd and Washington editorial page editor Geoff Johnson.

The panel discussion is one of four sessions during the conference, which will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Newcomb Hall ballroom.

The event is cosponsored by the Cavalier Daily Alumni Association.

Cohn and D’Orso will begin the activities with a keynote address. Cohn won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting for a series written with Will Englund entitled, "The Shipbuilders: Scrapping Ships, Sacrificing Men." The series explored the people who dismantle old ships in the Baltimore harbor and the life-threatening chemicals and conditions they encounter.

D’Orso is a widely respected former feature writer for The Virginian-Pilot. His recently published book, "Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement" with civil rights leader John L. Lewis, was featured on the cover of The New York Times Book Review.

Among other topics, Cohn and D’Orso will talk about finding and constructing their stories, Biles said.

Dodd covers baseball and the Olympics for USA Today, but also does many special projects, investigative and enterprise work. "We’re trying to do more of that in our sports department," Biles added.

Johnson, who also participated in the third annual conference, is the editorial manager of The Washington Post Writers’ Group. He is a 1993 graduate of the University and a former Cavalier Daily graphics editor.

A question-and-answer session will follow the keynote addresses. There also will be the traditional roundtable discussions and the final panel discussion.

The journalism conference was conceived by former managing boarders Pat Riccards and David Hanlin in 1994. They took the idea from a similar seminar organized by former executive editor Lisa Guernsey.

In addition to University students and faculty interested in journalism, the CD managing board said it hopes to have Charlottesville and Albemarle County-area high school students in attendance. Biles also is looking for a person from the production or online area of a newspaper to join the panel.