Ann Compton's career has taken her to the White House, Capitol Hill and through seven presidential campaigns. She now is covering her sixth president for ABC News.

The veteran White House correspondent was the only broadcast reporter allowed to remain with President George W. Bush onboard Air Force One on Sept. 11 when he was unable to return to Washington.

Ms. Compton is the first woman assigned to the White House by a network television news organization and she was one of the youngest to receive the assignment.

She has traveled around the globe through all 50 states with the presidents, vice presidents and first ladies reporting for al ABC News broadcasts.

Ms. Compton in 2000 became chief Washington correspondent for ABCNews.com where she wrote and anchored "On Background," a daily political column. She also is national correspondent for ABC Radio News.

Ms. Compton's career began in Roanoke, Va. She was an intern at WDBJ-TV in Roanoke during her junior year at Hollins College. Ms. Compton spent her first summer after graduation covering the major flooding from Hurricane Camille and anchoring the "Eleven O'Clock Report."

She moved to Richmond, Va., and established a state capital bureau for WDBJ-TV.

Ms. Compton received the Janus Award in May 1987 for her "Tax Shelter" report that appeared on Nightline. She also received National Mother's Day Organization's Outstanding Mother of the Year award that same year.

Ms. Compton also will spend the afternoon on campus speaking to various Penn State-Shenango student groups; the Chamber of Commerce Junior Leadership Shenango; local high school journalism students; and faculty, staff and advisory board members.