The Stony Brook University School of Journalism has launched a fundraising campaign to establish a center for international reporting in memory of acclaimed war correspondent Marie Colvin.
The mission of the Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting will be to nurture and grow the next generation of overseas reporters, to raise public awareness about the need for robust international coverage through the Marie Colvin Distinguished Lecture Series, and to cement Colvin’s legacy by rewarding tenacious overseas reporting with a journalist-in-residence fellowship.
The Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting will teach a specialized curriculum—including courses in the history of foreign reporting, hostile environment training, international news literacy and multimedia backpack journalism—developed by faculty with decades of field experience.
Marie Colvin with a Libyan general. Photo by Sidney Kwiram/Human Rights Watch
A travel fellowship will be established in Marie Colvin’s name to offer journalism students in need of financial assistance the opportunity to intern in foreign news bureaus and go on overseas reporting trips. The Marie Colvin Travel Fellowship will help expand Stony Brook’s “Journalism Without Walls” program, which has already sent student journalists on foreign reporting trips to China, Russia and Cuba.
Stony Brook, the largest research university on Long Island, is in a unique position to build a lasting legacy in Marie Colvin’s name. It is home to the only journalism school in New York State’s public higher education system. The School distinguishes itself with a rigorous curriculum, an innovative multimedia program and the pioneering Center for News Literacy, which teaches thousands of students across all disciplines how to be more effective news consumers.
The Colvin family has endorsed Stony Brook’s efforts with a generous seed donation from The Marie Colvin Memorial Fund. Because Marie Colvin was a Long Island native, the creation of a center for international reporting in her name has particular significance to the community here.
The Stony Brook University School of Journalism committee working to establish the Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting is led by:
- Founding Dean Howard Schneider, the longtime Newsday editor during whose tenure the Long Island newspaper won Pulitzer prizes for its coverage of Rwanda, Bosnia and Iraq.
- Associate Dean Marcy McGinnis, former CBS news senior vice president, news coverage, who was at the helm during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
- Assistant Professor Ilana Ozernoy, former foreign correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, who covered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and ran the magazine’s Baghdad bureau.
Your support is essential to establishing the Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting at Stony Brook University.