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IU School of Journalism announces its spring speaker series

• Jan. 14, 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A photojournalist who has captured world events, a national sports broadcaster and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist form the line-up for the Indiana University School of Journalism Spring Speaker Series.

Photojournalist and author Robert Nickelsberg, ESPN’s Sage Steele and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Sonia Nazario will talk about their careers and current issues in journalism during the series of lectures that are free and open to the public.

"We’re pleased to welcome these top journalists to campus to share their stories with our students and faculty," said Lesa Hatley Major, journalism interim dean. "These three have achieved excellence in their fields, while at the same time practicing their craft in unique ways that draw on their years of experience."

For example, Nickelsberg has covered Afghanistan for 25 years, and his new book, "Afghanistan: A Distant War," documents that period. Steele is one of the top broadcasters in the country and the lone African American female in the top echelon of sports journalism. Nazario adapted her Pulitzer Prize-winning work for the Los Angeles Times into a book that now is used in hundreds of high school and college classrooms across the country to illustrate immigration issues.

While on campus, series guests often visit classes to talk with students or gather with small groups of students and faculty over coffee or a meal. But the series isn’t limited to the campus audience.

"We know interest in journalism and the news business goes beyond those who are students or professors," Hatley Major said. "Area residents have been among our strongest supporters of this series since it began in 2006."

Here’s the schedule for spring semester:

• Nickelsberg will speak at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 27, at Ernie Pyle Hall Auditorium, 940 E. Seventh St. As a contract photojournalist for Time magazine and other publications, he has covered distinct periods of Afghanistan’s recent history, beginning in 1988 when he documented the drawdown of Soviet forces there and continuing through the impending departure of U.S. troops later this year.
• Steele will speak at 7 p.m. Monday, March 24, at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, 114 E. Kirkwood Ave. She is host of ESPN’s "NBA Countdown" show and contributes to the network’s "SportsCenter" program, where she formerly was co-host until her move to "NBA Countdown" in October. Steele, BS’95, joined ESPN in 2007 after several years working at regional TV and sports news organizations, including television stations in South Bend, Indianapolis and Tampa, Fla. Steele visited campus last fall as one of three speakers at IU’s Diversity Leadership Conference.
• Nazario will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Her Los Angeles Times series about a young immigrant’s trek from Honduras to Florida to find his mother won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize and later was adapted as a book, "Enrique’s Journey." Nazario followed undocumented immigrants’ footsteps, including harrowing rides clinging to the exteriors of trains and dodging violent bandits and gangs. Her reporting on immigration and other social issues has won several top prizes, including the George Polk Award for International Reporting.

Dozens of top journalists have visited campus as guests of the series, including the "Today" show’s Bob Dotson, The Washington Post’s David Ignatius, The New York Times’ David Brooks, Steve Kroft and Lara Logan of CBS' "60 Minutes," National Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg and Michele Norris, and authors Sheryl WuDunn and Elizabeth Gilbert. More information about other these and other series guests is available at the School of Journalism website.

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