2023 Faith, Reason, and World Affairs Symposium Day
2023 Schedule of Events
Post to "The Immediate Record" Gallery
2023 Symposium Speakers
Whitney Latorre
Whitney Latorre is the former director of visuals and immersive experiences at National Geographic. She led the visual and immersive staff, overseeing photography, video, Instagram, and podcast teams. She joined National Geographic in 2015 as the magazine’s deputy director of photography.
From 2007 to 2015, Latorre was on the staff of The New Yorker, first as a picture editor and later as the director of photography. Prior to joining the magazine, Latorre worked at the Open Society Foundations, where she was a founding member of the Documentary Photography Project and managed an international grant competition and exhibition for documentary photographers.
Her work has earned numerous awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors, the Society of Publication Designers, and the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (the Webbys). In 2011, Latorre — together with The New Yorker staff photographer Platon and Human Rights Watch — received a Peabody. In 2018, Pictures of the Year International honored the National Geographic photo staff with the Angus McDougall Overall Excellence in Editing Award and recognized Latorre with an Award of Excellence in the Magazine Visual Editor of the Year category. In 2019, National Geographic was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. Latorre received her Bachelor of Arts from Barnard College and continued with graduate work in American studies at Columbia University.
Lauren Walsh
Lauren Walsh’s books include "Through the Lens: The Pandemic and Black Lives Matter" (2022), "Shadow of Memory" (co-author, 2021), and "Conversations on Conflict Photography" (2019). She is co-editor of "The Future of Text and Image: Collected Essays on Literary and Visual Conjunctures" (2012) and "The Millennium Villages Project" (2016), and photo editor of "Macondo: Memories of the Colombian Conflict" (2017). Walsh has published in The Los Angeles Review of Books, Photography and Culture, The Romanic Review, The Journal of American History, The New Republic, and Nomadikon, among others, and has articles in numerous anthologies. In addition to her appearances on CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera, she has appeared on radio programs and in documentary films as an expert on photography. Walsh leads media literacy educational initiatives both in the U.S. and abroad and has led workshops and lectured globally, with an emphasis on ethics and photography. She is heading the media literacy education connected to a new global standard in digital image authenticity and verification (the Content Authenticity Initiative). Walsh is interested in contemporary debates in visual culture. She focuses particularly on photojournalism, with a specialty in conflict photography and peace journalism. She is the director of Lost Rolls America, a national archive of photography and memory, and runs Gallatin’s Photojournalism Lab. In 2017, she was awarded Gallatin‘s Excellence in Teaching Award.
Ami Vitale
Nikon Ambassador and National Geographic photographer, explorer, and filmmaker Ami Vitale has traveled to more than 100 countries, documenting the heartbreaking realities of war to witnessing the inspiring power of individuals making a difference. Her award-winning work illuminates the unsung heroes and communities working to protect wildlife and finding harmony in our natural world.
Vitale has been called one of the most influential photographers of her generation and is the 2022 Conservation International Innovators Fellow. In 2022, she was awarded with prestigious prizes from both the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service and the Lucie Humanitarian Award. InStyle magazine named her one of 50 Badass Women, a series celebrating women who show up, speak up, and get things done. She appeared alongside a group of incredible women including Jane Goodal, Christiane Amanpour, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Vitale received the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Reporting and is a six-time recipient of World Press Photos.
She is also the founder and executive director of the women-led nonprofit Vital Impacts, which supports humanitarian and conservation efforts around the world. Vital Impacts has created a global grant and mentoring program to foster and support the next generation of environmental storytellers.
Announcing the 2024 Faith, Reason, and World Symposium — Sept. 18, 2024
“Flourishing Futures: Nurturing Children for Civic Engagement”
This symposium will explore child development within the larger framework of civic engagement and social responsibility. The symposium will highlight national voices and research but will have a distinctly regional focus, cultivating conversations among leaders in K-12 education, nonprofit institutions, business, healthcare, civic life, etc. As part of this exploration, the symposium will probe the crisis in education and situate the “call” to teach within the larger context of civic engagement.
Symposium Planning Committee Co-Chairs: Dr. Michael J. Chan, executive director for faith and learning, and Dr. Darrell Stolle, professor and chair of education