The Hill’s White House correspondent will reveal what it’s like to report from the “front lines” of President Donald Trump’s administration and address post-graduation opportunities open to humanities majors at a talk in Goldwin Smith Hall this Thursday.
Jordan Fabian ’09, who has appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN and C-SPAN, has written articles for The Hill on topics from Trump’s health to the President’s handling of the government shutdown, according to The Hill’s website.
Prior to his professional career, Fabian majored in history in the College of Arts and Sciences. His talk at Cornell, titled “Trump, Year One: Observations of a White House Correspondent,” is hosted by the history department and was made possible through a gift from James H. Becker 1917.
Every year, the history department invites a renowned alumnus to campus to speak to students about careers.
“We’re hoping that Jordan Fabian will be able to show how he has put the research and writing skills he learned as a history major to good use in his professional life,” said Prof. Paul Friedland, history, the event’s host.
Although Fabian was invited back to Cornell by the history department, the event is public and directed toward all undergraduates. Friedland hopes that Fabian can set an example for work that social science majors can pursue.
“Sometimes students have a misconception that certain majors are more ‘pre-professional’ than others,” Prof. Friedland said. “All over the country, after the financial crisis of 2008, there was a movement out of humanities majors into majors that people, rightly or wrongly, thought were more practical.”
Friedland said the economic recovery has reminded people there there are many majors in the workforce.
“Now that the economy has picked up again over the last several years, it’s just a kind of reminder to everybody that there’s a whole bunch of majors out there and that every major gives people certain skill sets that they can use in practical ways,” he said.
According to Friedland, Fabian will discuss the past year’s events from the perspective of a White House reporter. In addition to the lecture, he will meet with a small group of students to further discuss his experiences and career.
The networking event on Friday is currently a College of Arts and Sciences exclusive event, but it may open up to students from the other colleges if space remains two days before the event, Friedland told The Sun.
The additional event will serve not only as an intriguing presentation but also as a valuable networking opportunity for students, said Friedland.
“We thought the fact that he’s a relatively recent graduate would be particularly interesting and inspiring to current students,” he said.