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.
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This year's winner of our Student Podcast Challenge, junior, Teagan Nam, described how their friends and classmates turned to memes and social media as a coping method. -
A family who fled the northern city of Chernihiv resettled in western Ukraine. Four weeks after they escaped, they're adjusting to a quieter normal life and dealing with their traumas.
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Many residents of the Ukrainian capital couldn't leave — even during the worst days of Russia's bombardment. Meet some of the 80-somethings who stayed behind.
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Satellite images show Russia is repositioning forces in the east of Ukraine — in preparation for a new offensive.
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More than 15,000 babies have been born in Ukraine since the start of the war. At a maternity hospital in Kyiv, new parents tell of the long road it took to get them to safety.
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Young military medics in Ukraine talk about their experience and life under the Russian siege.
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Russian forces appear to be withdrawing in the area around Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, as they turn their attention and firepower further to the south and east.
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The pentagon says Russian forces had done some repositioning away from Kyiv to the north. But according to NATO intelligence, Russia is maintaining pressure on the city.
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A month into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces appear not to be trying to take the capital Kyiv anymore. But there are increased attacks against the western city of Lviv and other cities.
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Enrollment in two-year colleges has dropped nationwide by about 750,000 students. But degree programs in construction trades are booming.
