Elissa Nadworny
Elissa Nadworny reports on all things college for NPR, following big stories like unprecedented enrollment declines, college affordability, the student debt crisis and workforce training. During the 2020-2021 academic year, she traveled to dozens of campuses to document what it was like to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic. Her work has won several awards including a 2020 Gracie Award for a story about student parents in college, a 2018 James Beard Award for a story about the Chinese-American population in the Mississippi Delta and a 2017 Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in innovation.
Nadworny uses multiplatform storytelling – incorporating radio, print, comics, photojournalism, and video — to put students at the center of her coverage. Some favorite story adventures include crawling in the sewers below campus to test wastewater for the coronavirus, yearly deep-dives into the most popular high school plays and musicals and an epic search for the history behind her classroom skeleton.
Before joining NPR in 2014, Nadworny worked at Bloomberg News, reporting from the White House. A recipient of the McCormick National Security Journalism Scholarship, she spent four months reporting on U.S. international food aid for USA Today, traveling to Jordan to talk with Syrian refugees about food programs there.
Originally from Erie, Pa., Nadworny has a bachelor's degree in documentary film from Skidmore College and a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
-
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says the U.S. killed the leader of Tren de Aragua in coordination with Venezuela.
-
A $111 billion merger of Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery got the green light from the Trump administration, though several states are raising anti-trust concerns.
-
SpaceX had an enormous IPO on Friday, but is it really worth the price?
-
NPR's Elissa Nadworny speaks with former Senate parliamentarian Alan Frumin about the president's calls to remove his successor, Elizabeth MacDonough.
-
NPR's Elissa Nadworny and sportswriter Howard Bryant discuss the NBA Finals and the World Cup.
-
Several states are loosening alcohol restrictions during the World Cup. NPR's Elissa Nadworny speaks with Corean Reynolds, Boston's Director of Nightlife Economy, about how her city is handling this.
-
The U.S. used to be the research engine of the world. Now China is taking the dominate role — thanks to excessive investment and a disruptive year for American universities.
-
The U.S. and Iran continue working toward a peace deal after a week of increase hostilities, President Trump's reaction to new inflation numbers and a birthday fighting cage behind the White House.
-
NPR's Elissa Nadworny speaks to Eric Johnson of the band Fruit Bats about their album "The Landfill," and how those man-made mountains may change your perspective.
-
Modern life has fried our attention spans. Could flexing our long term memory muscles help? NPR's Elissa Nadworny talks to actor William Sutton, who knows all 154 Shakespearian sonnets by heart.