Acclaimed journalist Lisa Ling will deliver the 40th installment of the Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lecture Series at Drake University. The lecture will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 11, in the Knapp Center, 2525 Forest Ave. A book signing will immediately follow the event. The lecture is free and open to the public; no tickets are required.

Currently executive producer and host of CNN’s This is Life, Ling journeys to the far corners of America, dedicated to uncovering important issues. She previously served as executive producer and host of Oprah Winfrey Network’s Our America, field correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show, and contributor to ABC News’ Nightline and National Geographic’s Explorer. Ling got her start in journalism as a correspondent for Channel One News. She then went on to co-host ABC’s The View, which won its first Emmy during her tenure.

“Lisa Ling will be an important addition to the distinguished group of speakers who have been a part of the Bucksbaum Lecture series,” said Kathleen Richardson, dean of Drake’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “Her career successes and dedication to uncovering injustice in the world are an inspiration to future journalists everywhere. We are thrilled to welcome Lisa to campus during the centennial year of journalism education at Drake.”

Ling has reported from around the world, covering everything from Afghanistan’s civil war to the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda. She often investigates crises in the United States as well, including the scourge of prescription pill addiction in Utah, the recent influx of women in North Dakota’s boomtown energy economy, and a town in the rural Midwest where young men aspire to be priests.

Ling was a member of President Obama’s Commission on White House Fellowships and a co-founder of Secret Society of Women. She also co-authored several books, including Mother, Daughter, Sister, Bride: Rituals of Womanhood and Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and The Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home.

About the Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lecture Series
The Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lecture Series is made possible by a gift from the late Melva and Martin Bucksbaum. The Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lectureship Committee includes: Neil Hamilton (chair), Julian Archer, James Autry, Pamela Bass-Bookey, Michael Gartner, Janis Ruan, Mary Bucksbaum Scanlon, and Eleanor Zeff.