Students taking Shott Chair of Journalism Lois Raimondo’s photojournalism course this fall are about to learn that visual journalism goes beyond the lens.

“It’s going to be a photography course, but not just about pictures,” said Raimondo. “It will be about perception and self-awareness. We will improve communication, and deepen understanding, if we develop, and act from, a greater critical knowledge of our own peculiar limitations.”

Before joining the West Virginia University Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism faculty, Raimondo most recently worked as a staff photographer at The Washington Post. Prior to her 10 years at the Post, she worked as a freelance photographer and writer and spent four years as chief photographer for The Associated Press bureau in Hanoi, Vietnam. Raimondo’s work has appeared in such publications as National Geographic, The New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Newsweek and Time.

Raimondo’s journalism, both pictures and words, has received national and international recognition. In 2005, Raimondo was awarded the Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship to report on the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism in Pakistan. She spent the year working in Baluchistan and Waziristan.

Raimondo was also awarded the Edward Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting in 2002 for her front-line reporting from the war in Afghanistan. The award committee cited both her photographic and written reports from the field.

As a print reporter, Raimondo worked on an investigative series for New York Newsday about corruption in a public housing project. The series was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1989. Her photographic work has also received White House News Photographers Association awards, National Press Photographers Association awards and the Casey Medal for Service.

At the WVU School of Journalism, Raimondo will teach photojournalism courses, work on special projects and help build the School’s international programs.

“Our students are fortunate to have a journalist of Raimondo’s caliber teaching and sharing her experiences,” said Maryanne Reed, Dean of the School of Journalism. “She’s passionate about telling stories through words and pictures and brings to the program a unique global perspective.”

Raimondo, a native of Rocky Point, N.Y., began her journalism career in 1982 as a sound technician, producer and interpreter for CBS News in Beijing, China. She holds two master’s degrees, one in news-editorial from the University of Missouri-Columbia and one in comparative literature (Chinese and Japanese) from Indiana University.

The Shott Chair of Journalism was established in 1984 by the Hugh I. Shott Jr. Foundation in honor of the Shott family’s more than 100-year history of leadership in West Virginia’s news media. The chair is a faculty position in journalism – print, broadcast or new media – designed to enhance the quality of journalism education in the state.
WVU

cv/09/3/09
WVU News on the Web – http://www.wvutoday.wvu.edu
CONTACT:
Kimberly Brown, School of Journalism
304-293-3505 ext. 5403