Critically-acclaimed broadcast journalist Soledad O’Brien will give a lecture at the University of Alabama at Birmingham at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23, 2013. The free, public event is part of the campuswide celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month and will take place at UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. O’Brien will speak on the topic, “Diversity: On TV, Behind the Scenes and In Our Lives.”
O’Brien, the former anchor of CNN’s “Starting Point,” created the documentary series “Black in America” and “Latino in America,” which are among the network’s most successful domestic and international franchises. In 2011, she won an Emmy for her coverage of Haitian orphanages in the wake of a devastating earthquake. She also earned Peabody awards for her reporting on Hurricane Katrina and the BP Gulf Coast oil spill.
In June 2013, O’Brien launched Starfish Media Group, a multiplatform media production and distribution company that tells stories on the issues of race, class, wealth, poverty and opportunity. She is also a correspondent for HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.”
O’Brien is a distinguished fellow of Harvard University and was recently appointed to the board of directors of the foundation for the National Archives. She has been named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists and one of Newsweek magazine’s “10 People Who Make America Great.”
O’Brien lives in Manhattan with her husband and four children.
The event is sponsored by the Office of the Vice Provost for Student and Faculty Success, Student Life, the UAB Lecture Series, the UAB Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs and the School of Medicine.