Rod Nordland on the Three Americans Held in Iran
August 9, 2009 at 6:25 pm Tina Hay 2 comments
Readers of The Penn Stater may remember the cover story we did a few years ago on Rod Nordland ’72, who at the time was the Baghdad correspondent for Newsweek magazine. About a year ago, Nordland moved over to the New York Times, where he continues to cover the war in Iraq.
Today he reports on the status of three American hikers who strayed across the border into Iran on July 31 and were taken captive. There’s talk that they could be released soon.
Tina Hay, editor
Entry filed under: Famous Penn Staters, Penn State alumni, The Penn Stater magazine. Tags: Iran, Iraq, Josh Fattal, New York Times, Newsweek, Rod Nordland, Sara Shourd, Shane Bauer.
Subscribe
1. Bill Johnston | June 29, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Tina:
During the second-half of the 60s I was Asst. Dean of Student Affairs at the Ogontz Campus (now Abington Campus I believe) and Rod Nordland was one of the students whom I befriended. He was active on the newspaper staff (later editor I believe) and because we were there in the student union many evenings and weekends I got to know him and, above all, respect his drive and sincerity. The Penn Stater article caught me up on Rod’s wonderful career after an absence of nearly 40 years. As the Alumni Association and/or trustees consider distinguished alumni and other honors I would hope that a difference maker such as Rod Nordland, who has spent his career in harm’s way, would be given very serious consideration.
Bill Johnston ’63
2. Tina Hay | June 30, 2010 at 7:28 am
Bill — It looks like Penn State agrees wholeheartedly with you. Rod was named an Alumni Fellow in 1990 and a Distinguished Alumnus in 2007. We also featured him on the cover of the magazine in 2005. I have followed his career with great interest, but you make an especially good point that he has taken some substantial risks to do the work he does.