The speaker series was previously offered by the IU School of Journalism, which now, like the speaker series, has become part of the Media School, according to the University. The School of Journalism merged with the departments of telecommunications and communication and culture to form the media school that launched July 1.
“We made a deliberate decision to make sure that, starting this fall, this would be the Media School Speaker Series,” said Anne Kibbler, director of communications and media relations for the Media School.
Kibbler said there was an effort to appeal to a wider base within the Media School in choosing the speakers.
The first speaker in the series will be journalist and filmmaker Jose Antonio Vargas, according to the ?University.
Vargas is the writer and director of the film “Documented,” which chronicles his life as an immigrant from the Philippines.
The filmmaker was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning group of journalists at the Washington Post who covered the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings.
Vargas has also written for other publications, including the New York Times Magazine in 2011 about his undocumented status.
“I think there are a lot of cases where people we’re inviting are actually crossing over and using multiple platforms,” Kibbler said.
Vargas is also founder of the nonprofit media organization Define American, which uses storytelling to start conversations about immigration in the United States, according to the ?organization’s website.
“Documented” will be shown at 5 p.m. in the Whittenberger Auditorium prior to Vargas’ lecture, according to the University.
Kibbler said the IU Journalism Speaker Series was successful in the past, and she hopes to see that success continue in the Media School Speaker Series.
She added that the series often had a good response from the general public, and the change will provide a broader base of speakers from which to choose.
“Whereas in the past with journalism, we would try and look at broadcast and newspapers and magazines and the range of journalism platforms, now it will be beyond that,” Kibbler said.
The second speaker in the series will be investigative journalist Kathrine Boo, who is currently on staff at the New Yorker, according to the announcement.
Kibbler said she heard good things about Boo from multiple sources and that when she reached out to Boo’s agent, she found she was not the first at IU to reach out to Boo.
Boo’s lecture is co-sponsored by the College Arts and Humanities Institute and the Kelley School of Business Common Read Program, according to the University.
Boo is a Pulitzer Prize winner for public service, a recipient of the 2012 MacArthur “genius” award and a winner of a National Magazine Award. Her recent book, “Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity” was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2013 and received a National Book Award for Nonfiction.
The third speaker, Carolyn Jones, was recommended by an IU faculty member, Kibbler said.
Jones is a documentary filmmaker best known for her film “The American Nurse,” which was inspired by her battle with breast cancer and profiles five nurses working under tough ?circumstances.
Kibbler said she is hopeful that Jones’ lecture will also draw students from the School of Public Health, as well as medical professionals from the Bloomington community.
Kibbler said she has high hopes for the series, especially given Vargas’ recent national visibility. In July, Antonio Vargas was arrested by immigration authorities as he tried to fly out of McAllen, Texas, a border town, after telling officials he was in the country illegally, according to CNN. He was questioned and released the same day.
“I’m really excited,” she said. “I think Jose Antonio Vargas is going to be really interesting. I’d already talked to his agent, and then a week later he was arrested.”
Kibbler said the arrest has brought Vargas widespread attention for his stance on immigration and made him a national figure.
Kibbler added that while the base of speakers will be broader, she does not foresee any particular area of the Media School being favored over another in terms of the guests it attracts.
“I’m thrilled,” she said. “I think it’ll be easier, and it’ll be really exciting because now we can just think bigger and have more diversity within the speakers.”
An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Carolyn Jones' position.
