J-School announces 3 spring speakers

Three newsmakers and authors will speak at IU this semester as part of the School of Journalism’s spring lecture series. The lectures are free and open to the public.

James Burke, a television documentary maker and author, will be the first speaker on Feb. 16 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Burke has produced, directed, written and hosted award-winning television series on several television stations, according to an IU press release. He is the bestselling author of “Connections,” “The Day the Universe Changed” and “The Knowledge Web.”

Currently, Burke is a contributor for TIME magazine. He is working on a project that is an online interactive knowledge-mapping system to be used as a teaching aid, a tool for innovation and management and a predictor, according to the press release.

The second journalist in the series, Steve Kroft, will speak on March 31 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. He has been a CBS news correspondent for more than 27 years, and this season of “60 Minutes” will be his 19th on the broadcast, according to the press release.

Kroft was the first to interview President-elect Barack Obama after the election. The interview aired on Nov. 19. Kroft has also received 11 Emmy awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Emmy for his body of work.

On April 14, Sylvia Nasar will end the series as the third speaker. She will speak at Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union. Nasar is an economist, journalist and professor, as well as the best-selling author of “A Beautiful Mind,” which inspired the Academy Award-winning film starring Russell Crowe.

Nasar discovered the story of John Nash, the Princeton mathematical genius who suffered from schizophrenia for three decades before recovering and winning a Nobel Prize in economics, while serving as the economics reporter for The New York Times.

Nasar teaches a graduate seminar in economics reporting that focuses on globalization, growth, living standards and business cycles, according to the press release. Nasar is also working on a book called “Grand Pursuit,” a book about 20th-century economic thinkers.