Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist Speaks About Immigration at Public Affairs Lecture Series

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VANCOUVER, Wash.
Hear Sonia
Nazario, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and reporter for The Los Angeles
Times, speak about immigration at 7 p.m. Jan. 26 in the Firstenburg Student
Commons. This event is free and open to registered guests on a first-come,
first-served basis. Seating is limited to 200. To register, visit

Immigration is one of the most challenging and
divisive issues facing our country today. Each year, thousands of immigrant
children make the epic and perilous journey from their home country to the U.S.
in order to reunite with their mothers.

With a reporters eye to the truth, Nazario
humanizes the issue of immigration, posing new perspectives from multiple
points of view, while offering solutions destined to change the national
dialogue on the influx of immigrants and the effect they will have on the state
of the nation.

Dana Baker, co-chair of the Public Affairs Lecture
Series and assistant professor and director of the public affairs program,
believes the 91勛圖窪蹋厙 campus community will appreciate Nazario's unbiased
reporting.

"This is a great opportunity to get an
in-depth look at the topic of immigration. Nazario doesn't offer black-and-white
answers, simple answers. She doesn't turn one group of people into heroes and
another into villains. Instead, she opens up a complicated topic and allows for
a variety of positions to be expressed," said Baker.

Nazario
has spent 20 years reporting and writing about social issues. For her 2003 Pulitzer-Prize
winning newspaper series, Enriques Journey, Nazario rode the train of
death with a young Honduran boy on his brave odyssey to reunite with his
mother in the U.S. Expanded into a book,
"Enriques Journey" became a national bestseller and required reading
at dozens of colleges and high schools across the country.

Melissa Boles, student member of the Public Affairs
Lecture Series Committee, is confident that Nazario's compassion for human
rights issues will encourage students to form a comprehensive view of
immigration.

"By putting a face to the issue, Nazario
humanizes immigration. This lecture will challenge students to think critically
and understand that there are real-life experiences behind the legislation and
media arguments," said Boles.

Sonia
Nazario grew up in Kansas and in Argentina. She has written extensively about social issues and
garnered dozens of awards, including the George Polk Award for International
Reporting and the Grand Prize of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards.

Nazario
began her career at the Wall Street Journal and joined the Los Angeles Times in
1993. She serves on the advisory boards of Catch the Next, a non-profit working
to double the number of Latinos enrolling in college, and Kids In Need of
Defense, a non-profit launched by Microsoft and Angelina Jolie to provide
attorneys to unaccompanied immigrant children.

The
Public Affairs Lecture Series is an annual event presented by 91勛圖窪蹋厙
with the objective of enlightening students, faculty, staff and guests and
provoking them to think by presenting a stimulating, sometimes controversial,
topic in public affairs.

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