Renowned Broadcaster and Author
Host, On Shifting Ground, NPR Veteran
Appearance sponsored by MSU's College of Natural & Applied Sciences; Language, Cultures & Religion Department; Communication, Media, Journalism & Film Department; School of Earth, Environment & Sustainability and the Political Science & Philosophy Department.
Ray Suarez hosts On Shifting Ground, a radio program syndicated on NPR and PRX stations across the U.S. The show explores international fault lines and how they impact us all, and features conversations with journalists, leaders and policy experts to help us read between the headlines— and give us hope for human resilience.
In addition, Ray launched Brooklyn Boy Productions in 2019, where he creates content for public radio and television, The Washington Post, The Independent (London), The Philadelphia Inquirer, Pew Research, Wisconsin Public Radio, Knowable, “America in One Room,” Hispanics in Philanthropy, Slate, palabra, The Nation, Hearst TV, AlterNet, CityPaper, The American Communities Project, The Intercept, The Economic Hardship Reporting Project, and National Catholic Reporter, among others.
Currently under contract to Little, Brown, Ray’s next book, We Are Home: Becoming American in the 21st Century, tells the stories of modern immigrants to the United States and the demographic and cultural change they are bringing to the country.
Before going to AJAM, Suarez spent 14 years as a correspondent and anchor at public television’s nightly newscast, The PBS NewsHour, where he rose to become chief national correspondent. During his years at The NewsHour, Suarez covered the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, four presidential elections, reported from the floor of seven party political conventions, moderated two presidential primary candidates’ debates, reported from the devastating Port au Prince earthquake, the 2006 Mexico elections, the H1N1 virus pandemic in Mexico and the explosion of tuberculosis/HIV co-infection in South Africa among hundreds of others.
Suarez came to The NewsHour after six-and-a-half years as the Washington-based host of NPR’s Talk of the Nation. During his time as host, the program’s carriage more than doubled to more than 150 radio stations, and the audience more than tripled in size. The New York Times called Ray the “thinking man’s talk show host,” and “a national resource.” During his decades as a broadcaster, Ray also did extensive work as a writer. He wrote the 2013 companion volume to the PBS documentary series, Latino Americans. In 2005, he published an examination of the tightening relationship between religion and electoral politics, The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America. His first book looked at the decades of disinvestment and white flight in urban America, The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration. In 2019, the New Press published Truth Has a Power of Its Own, a book featuring conversations about American history between Suarez and historian Howard Zinn.
Ray’s writing has also been included in many other books, including The Good Fight: America’s Ongoing Struggle for Justice, What We See: Advancing the Observations of Jane Jacobs, How I Learned English: 55 Accomplished Latinos Recall Lessons in Language and Life, Brooklyn: A State of Mind, Saving America’s Treasures and Las Christmas: Favorite Latino Authors Share Their Holiday Memories, among others. Ray also wrote an entry on religion and politics for the Oxford Companion to American Politics. His essays, op-eds and criticism have been published in The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times and The Independent (London).
Over the years, many organizations and institutions have recognized and honored Suarez and his work. He was a co-recipient of two DuPont-Columbia Silver Baton awards at NPR; UCLA’s Public Policy Leadership Award for his coverage of urban America; and his coverage of global public health has won national and international citations, including the Edwin Hood Award for Diplomatic Reporting from the National Press Club, a national Emmy nomination, and nine CINE Golden Eagle Awards. His innovative 2010 program “America Speaks to BP” won the Webby Award for live online events, and his podcast series Going for Broke, added another Webby, and three other national awards. The National Council of La Raza (now UNIDOS US) gave Suarez its Ruben Salazar Award and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists inducted him into the organization’s Hall of Fame in 2010.
An active layman in the Episcopal Church, Suarez is a sought-after writer and speaker on religious topics. He currently serves as a member of The Chapter, the lay board of trustees of Washington National Cathedral.