Susan Audé

Susan Audé (known from 1984-2000 as Susan Audé Fisher) is an American television news anchor in Columbia, South Carolina.

Audé received dozens of honors for her work both as an anchor and reporter, including Newscaster of the Year from the South Carolina Broadcasters Association, and that same organization's prestigious Master's Award. In 1998, Susan was named to the University of South Carolina College of Journalism's "Diamond Circle", joining a national group of esteemed individuals chosen for outstanding contributions to their field.

The Governor's Commission on Women honored Audé with its 2001 Woman of Achievement Award which is presented for "remarkable accomplishments and commitment to our state".

Audé was paralyzed in an auto accident during her junior year at Erskine College. Following a year of hospitalization and rehabilitation, she went on to finish her college education. She then went onto earn a Master of Mass Communications degree from the University of South Carolina. Two years later, she joined WIS-TV in Columbia as a reporter and weekend weathercaster. In the Within two years, she was a weekend anchor, and by 1982 she joined longtime anchorman Ed Carter on the weekday newscasts. She and Carter were together for 16 years until Carter's retirement in 1998--longer than any anchor team in the two Carolinas at the time.

Audé announced her retirement on February 1, 2006. She had been a main anchor longer than any woman in Carolinas television history at the time.Fact|date=June 2008

Her life and accomplishments have been the subject of stories in Good Housekeeping and Ms. magazines, as well as on CNN and Lifetime cable channels and Sally Jesse Raphael. In the late 1980s Audé appeared in two films - "Staying Together" (1989) (playing herself), and in "Distortions" (1987) as Mourner #9.

Audé entered the news business 12 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. "If I went to cover a story that was on a second floor of a building that didn't have elevators or ramps," Audé said in a 2006 interview on the Today Show, "I couldn't go back to the newsroom and say 'I couldn't get the story.'" Cameramen would often have to carry Audé and her wheelchair to the source of the story.

Audé is also known for her community involvement and has received numerous humanitarian awards. She is a Meals-on-Wheels volunteer, member of the Community Relations Council Lunch Club of Columbia, a member of the North American Bluebird Society, a frequently requested speaker, and has a daughter, Blythe, with ex-husband Kevin Fisher.

Audé has often spoken of how her spiritual faith shaped her life. As a college student she was actively involved in what was then referred to as the Jesus Movement. In 1995, while attending a Methodist Church where she was teaching Sunday School, Audé began to embrace the Bahá'í Faith.

References

* [http://wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=63882 Susan Aude] WIS TV Website Biography
* [http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4448012 News 10's Susan Aude announces her retirement] Retirement announcement
* [http://www.erskine.edu/news/fisher.html Erskine College netnews] Susan Aude Fisher, Erskine Class of 1976
* [http://www.ed.sc.edu/kridel/carolinashoutaude.htm from the 1st Carolina Shout February 22, 2001, Russell House Ballroom] On the retirement of Professor J. Bruce Carlock, Susan Aude's testimony
* [http://www.ehradiversity.com/speakers_aude.html Keynote Speaker] 7th Annual Diversity & Family Friendly Conference
* [http://media.www.dailygamecock.com/media/storage/paper247/news/2001/04/12/News/Local.Anchor.Speaks.Of.Faiths.View.On.Racism-66746.shtml Susan Aude Fischer tells of her Baha'i beliefs] By: Rebecca Whitehead, Issue date: 4/12/01. (requires registration after first visit)
*imdb name|0279132
* [http://www.myetv.org/television/productions/making_it_grow/Placeswevisitedin1996.cfm Making It Grow!] produced by ETV, Places We've Visited in 1996