Former NY Times, CNN Journalists Named Reynolds Visiting Professors

Micheline Maynard (left) and Susan Lisovicz are Donald W. Reynolds Visiting Professors in Business Journalism.A former New York Times senior business correspondent and a former CNN Wall Street correspondent will be the Donald W. Reynolds Visiting Professors in Business Journalism for the spring semester at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. Former Times airline and auto industry reporter Micheline Maynard and former CNN Wall Street correspondent Susan Lisovicz will serve as Reynolds visiting professors at the Cronkite School during the spring 2014 semester. Maynard was a Reynolds Visiting Business Journalism Professor at Central Michigan University last year, and Lisovicz has twice before been a Reynolds Visiting Business Journalism Professor at the Cronkite School. Maynard, a reporter and bureau chief for the Times until 2010, left to become senior editor of a two-year NPR grant project called “Changing Gears.” She recently launched a new crowd-funded journalism venture, “Curbing Cars: Rethinking How We Get Around,” examining why people are driving less and turning to different types of transportation. Curbing Cars is featured on the cover of the current issue of the Columbia Journalism Review. Maynard’s e-book on the project’s findings will be published in 2014. “It’s never been more important for prospective journalists to understand business,” Maynard said. “I’m excited to bring my expertise in transportation, urban topics and other economic subjects to Arizona State.” Lisovicz was a correspondent for more than a decade at CNN, interviewing business leaders and providing daily Wall Street coverage. She previously worked as a correspondent for CNBC. She is a former president of the New York Financial Writers Association and also has been an Asian Pacific Fellow, a Jefferson Fellow in Asia and a Radio Television Digital News Association Fellow in Europe. She received the President’s Medal from her alma mater, William Paterson University. “The Reynolds Center does invaluable work for students and working pros alike in breaking down today’s complex business news,” Lisovicz said. “I’m thrilled to return to Reynolds and help teach a subject that is critically important and yet still so misunderstood.” The school has two visiting business journalism professors in spring semester 2014 because Andrew Leckey, president of the Reynolds Center and the Reynolds Endowed Chair in Business Journalism, will be teaching in Guangzhou, China, as a Fulbright Scholar at Sun Yat-sen University during that semester. “Micheline Maynard and Susan Lisovicz have proven their ability to help journalism students better understand the world of money, and we’re delighted the school will benefit from their knowledge during the upcoming spring semester,” Leckey said. “I’ve gotten to know both of them, and consider their outstanding professional careers coupled with proven teaching ability to be the optimum formula for student success.” At the school, Maynard will teach the business issues and reporting courses in business journalism, while Lisovicz will teach broadcast-related business journalism courses. The position is made possible by a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. The foundation also supports the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism and the Donald W. Reynolds Endowed Chair in Business Journalism at the Cronkite School. Former New York Times business reporter Leslie Wayne was the school’s inaugural Reynolds Visiting Professor in Business Journalism in 2010, followed by Lisovicz in 2011 and Sharon Bernstein, former business reporter and editor of the Los Angeles Times, in 2012. Lisovicz returned last year. The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, it has committed more than $115 million nationwide through its Journalism Program.