By: Litzi Duran
Contributing Writer
After three years of the Georgie Anne Geyer lectures being on pause, award-winning photojournalist, Paula Bronstein, will be visiting campus Tuesday, April 4.
Bronstein’s work has amplified the voices of those suffering injustices across the world. She is currently working in Kyiv, Ukraine where she has captured the struggles of the elderly facing the war in Ukraine and some moments of happiness.
She will be appearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Martin Recital Hall. The talk is free for students.
She recently received the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award. This award is given to women whose work emphasizes the importance of photojournalism and its impact on understanding the world.
The Georgie Anne Geyer initiative at Dominican University came through the work of alumna, Gera-Lind Kolarik, who graduated in 1975. She created this initiative in honor of Geyer, who was a foreign correspondent with the goal to inspire students to go into that career path.
Sara Acosta, vice president of university advancement, explains that Geyer was a mentor to Kolarik. Eight years ago, Kolarik made a donation to Dominican that has allowed the university to create the Georgie Ann Geyer initiative to pay tribute to her.
“[Kolarik] wanted to do this so that young people could be inspired for journalism careers, particularly to be a foreign correspondent,” said Acosta.
Through this initiative, several journalists have been able to come onto campus to hold public lectures and meet with students in smaller groups. CNN’s Clarissa Ward was the last person to hold a campus lecture in the fall of 2019, prior to the pandemic.
According to Acosta, Kolarik was a journalist herself and worked at WLS Channel 7 for quite a few years.
“The initiative was set up to encourage students to be foreign correspondents. It is the idea of promoting travel, promoting an understanding of other cultures and languages, cross-cultural and cross-country dialogue,” said Acosta. “All of that is at the heart of why Gera-Lind created this.”
Lduran1@my.dom.edu
