UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Lynn Johnson, a photographer selected twice as a Pulitzer Prize finalist and a regular contributor to National Geographic, will share her experiences documenting the human condition during a virtual question-and-answer session at 7 p.m. on March 9 as part of the weekly Journalism Speakers Forum.
The forum features weekly speakers during the spring semester at Penn State, via Zoom.
A Pittsburgh-based journalist who spends about 10 months a year on the road, Johnson will discuss how she approaches finding and then telling the stories of people and communities in often difficult circumstances. Her subjects include threatened languages, zoonotic disease, rape in the military ranks, and the power of cannabis, for example.
At National Geographic Photo Camps, Johnson helps at-risk youth around the world find their creative voices. At Syracuse University’s Newhouse School, she developed a mentoring program that challenges master’s degree students to push past their comfort levels in pursuit of the story’s truth, frame by frame. Johnson has also worked for LIFE and Sports Illustrated and published 37 feature stories in National Geographic Magazine. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Robert F. Kennedy Award.
The spring semester series of special guest presentations was coordinated by Will Yurman, the Norman Eberly Professor of Practice in Journalism in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. Yurman also serves as host for the weekly discussions. Videos of previous visitors for the forum may be found online.