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Undergraduate Commencement in 360
Undergraduate Commencement in 360
Undergraduate Commencement in 360
Undergraduate Commencement in 360

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Undergraduate Commencement in 360

Kim Barker

Reporter for The New York Times & Author of The Taliban Shuffle
Undergraduate Commencement Speaker

Kim Barker, Southern Connecticut State University commencement speaker

Kim Barker was the South Asia bureau chief for the Chicago Tribune between 2004 and 2009, directing coverage of Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, meaning she was more at home on a plane than anywhere else. She wrote a book about her time there, The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a darkly comic memoir published by Doubleday in March 2011. Read More

New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani called the book "hilarious and harrowing, witty and illuminating, all at the same time," and Paramount Pictures is now making a film adaptation of the book starring Tina Fey. After leaving the Tribune, Barker became the Edward R. Murrow press fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, spending her term writing and studying about South Asia. She then covered nonprofits and campaign finance for the nonprofit investigative news outlet ProPublica.

Barker, who grew up in Montana, Wyoming and Oregon, graduated from Northwestern University and also worked as a reporter at The Times in northwest Indiana, The SpokesmanReview in Spokane, Wash. and The Seattle Times.

She’s won awards for her investigative reporting at The Seattle Times and ProPublica and for her religion reporting at the Chicago Tribune. Her work has appeared in Foreign Affairs, The Daily Beast, Reader’s Digest, The Washington Post and The Atlantic, and she's appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and The Colbert Report, among other outlets. Kim Barker joined The New York Times in June 2014, focusing on investigative stories for the metro desk.



There is no such thing as a straight road to happiness, and sometimes the best road is the one that meanders, detours, and sometimes hits a dead end. . . . There is no such thing as stuck. There is no such thing as no way out.

Kim Barker


Barker's "secrets to a happy life"

  • lots of risk
  • tons of failure
  • flexibility
  • an open heart
  • an updated passport

Nick Fradiani

2015 American Idol Winner performed "Beautiful Life"

Share yours using #SCSU2016

No matter what your background, or the road you took to get here, you are all to be truly commended.

President Papazian

Be a volunteer in your community. Be an active voice for peace and justice. Be a champion for tolerance and understanding.

President Papazian

Watch Commencement

Undergraduate

Friday, May 20, 2016, 10:15 a.m.

Webster Bank Arena, 600 Main Street, Bridgeport.

Graduate Afternoon

Thursday, May 19, 2016, 2:00 p.m.

Lyman Center, Southern Connecticut State University

School of Arts and Sciences
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Graduate Evening

Thursday, May 19, 2016, 7:00 p.m.

Lyman Center, Southern Connecticut State University

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