MIDDLEBURY — Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times will deliver Middlebury College’s 2022 Robert W. van de Velde Jr. ’75 Memorial lecture, “Reporting on an Unprecedented Pandemic,” this coming Monday, March 14, at 7 p.m.

Since the early days of 2020, when the world slowly woke to the coronavirus pandemic, reporting on the virus has been relentless, fast-paced, and immeasurably complicated. It has also been exhilarating. This presentation will offer a glimpse into the experience of a journalist who has written almost exclusively about the pandemic for nearly two years.

Mandavilli joined the staff of the New York Times in 2019. Previously, she was the founding editor-in-chief of Spectrum, an award-winning news site on autism science that grew an audience of millions. She led the team there for 13 years. She also co-founded Culture Dish, an organization dedicated to enhancing diversity in science journalism, and was the founding chair of the Diversity Committee for the National Association of Science Writers. She is the 2019 winner of the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting.

Robert van de Velde Jr. attended Middlebury College, where he majored in Sociology and was an active member of the staff of WRMC-FM, the college radio station. Not long after his graduation, he died suddenly. Shortly after his death, family members and friends established the Robert W. van de Velde, Jr. ’75 Memorial Lecture. This lecture provides an annual opportunity for a searching examination of the confluence of public affairs and journalism.

The link to join this webinar can be found at tinyurl.com/MandavilliMidd.