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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Columbia University agreed to pay $200 million to the federal government in order to resolve multiple federal agency investigations. The settlement will restore access to billions of dollars in federal research funding, resuming frozen grants and opening up opportunities for future research opportunities.
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A federal judge in Boston is weighing arguments from both sides in Harvard's lawsuit against the Trump administration. Harvard claims the government's freezing of research funds is illegal.
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With more than $2 billion in federal research grants at stake, the two sides argued before a federal judge about the legality of the White House's cancellation of those funds to Harvard. -
Lawyers for Harvard University and the Trump administration are set to begin arguing a case over federal funding for research grants.
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This year is the first time that more U.S. college students will learn entirely online compared to being fully in-person. And research shows most online programs cost as much or more than in-person. This story was produced in collaboration with The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
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This year is the first time that more U.S. college students will learn entirely online compared to being fully in-person. And research shows most online programs cost as much or more than in-person. This story was produced in collaboration with The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
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Some religious colleges and universities in the U.S. are in trouble and are cutting programs. Others are seeking mergers to reduce costs and expand offerings.
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A Trump administration investigation has found that Harvard University violated federal civil rights law by failing to protect Jewish students on campus.
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The Trump administration has issued a notice of violation accusing Harvard University of "deliberate indifference" toward Jewish and Israeli students. -
The federal judge in the case says she hopes to decide next week on whether to block indefinitely President Trump's June 4th order on Harvard's international students.
