Utah Valley University is pleased to host Laurie Goodstein, national religion correspondent for the New York Times, who will speak on “Religious Diversity: America’s Strength and Challenge” on Oct. 23 from noon to 1 p.m. in UVU’s Ragan Theater in the Sorensen Student Center.
“We are delighted to have such a distinguished journalist on our campus,” said Brian Birch, director of UVU’s Religious Studies program. “Her reporting demonstrates great care in the attempt to understand religion through a variety of lenses. She has had a substantial impact on the way religion is perceived in our American society, and UVU students will benefit greatly from her insights.”
In addition to covering critical events and issues in religion, Goodstein is attentive to stories that bring to life how Americans live out their faith in an age of increasing religious diversity and conflict over the limits of religious expression. She has won respect in her field by reporting on a wide variety of faith communities, covering the spectrum from Muslims and Roman Catholics to evangelical Christians and Latter-day Saints. Her work for both the New York Times and Washington Post, where she worked until 1997, has garnered numerous awards from media and academic organizations.
Goodstein earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1984 and a master’s from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1989, where she won a Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship.
The lecture, which is part of UVU’s Interreligious Engagement Initiative, is free and open to the public. President Matthew S. Holland will be in attendance, along with several members of UVU’s Community Advisory Council and religious leaders from across the valley.
