Honors College to Host National Geographic Video Producer

Photo by Peter Essick

Shannon Sanders shoots a report on pine beetles in Alberta, Canada.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Growing up in rural Arkansas, Shannon Sanders was enthralled with the National Geographic documentaries she was allowed to watch on rainy days. Now, just six years after graduating with honors from the University of Arkansas, she is making them.

Sanders will share her journey from Flippin to her dream job as a video producer for National Geographic. She will lecture at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 12, in Ozark Hall Auditorium (room 26). A reception honoring Sanders will take place from 5-6 p.m. in the Honors Student Lounge in Ozark Hall (room 130). This special evening is the latest event in the Honors College Invites series, in which thinkers and doers share their craft with the campus and community.

The event is free and open to the public, but please RSVP at honorscollege.uark.edu/invites.

“We are so proud of Shannon, one of many of our Bodenhamer Fellows who has achieved significant success right out of the gate,” said Curt Rom, interim dean of the Honors College. “We’re grateful that she is coming back to campus to share her experiences in a very competitive field.”

Assignments have taken Sanders from the pine forests of Canada to a brain science lab at Harvard, from the rim of the Grand Canyon to an innovative network of communicators in India.

One of her most important projects to date — and the most difficult — was about storm chaser Tim Samaras, killed in the El Reno tornado in Texas in May 2013. Shannon interviewed Samaras’ colleagues across the United States and in Germany about his work and produced several video elements to complement the magazine’s November 2013 cover story.

“It was an emotionally taxing story, but an honor to get to tell it,” Sanders said by phone from her office in Washington, D.C.

Most of her stories focus on domestic issues, such as the Hunger in America series that went online in August 2014. Sanders produced stories in Iowa and Fort Smith for her part of the series.

Shannon Sanders. Photo by Spencer Millsap

Before joining National Geographic, Sanders interned with CNN.com and worked on several projects for Special Olympics International. The National Magazine Awards, the White House News Photographers Association and the Society for News Design have recognized her work.

Sanders credits the Walter J. Lemke Department of Journalism in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences for giving her the skills to succeed in multimedia journalism.

“Even though I left print journalism, the training I received absolutely informs my story telling and my journalism every single day,” she said. “I’m still telling stories just like a writer, only doing it with a camera instead.”

Sanders will meet with current journalism students during her visit on campus, to share her advice on succeeding in a tough, and changing, profession.

About the Honors College: The Honors College was established in 2002 and unites the university’s top undergraduate students and professors in a learning environment characterized by discovery, creativity and service. Each year the Honors College awards up to 90 freshman fellowships that provide $70,000 over four years, and more than $1 million in undergraduate research and study abroad grants. The Honors College is nationally recognized for the high caliber of students it admits and graduates. Honors students programs are offered in all disciplines and are tailored to students’ academic interests, with interdisciplinary collaborations encouraged. One hundred percent of Honors College graduates have engaged in mentored research.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.