Mirta Ojito, the first speaker in the 2014-15 Newark Academy Global Speaker Series, in partnership with the Feinberg Multicultural Assembly, visited NA on October 10.

Ojito, a respected journalist, has served as an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, and recently joined the NBC Telemundo television network as director of news standards. She worked for The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, and The New York Times, where she covered immigration, among other beats, for the Metro Desk. She earned the American Association of Newspaper Editors Writing Award for International Coverage for a series of stories about life in Cuba; and a shared Pulitzer for national reporting in 2001 for a series of articles about race in America.

During her visit Ojito discussed her own journey as a Cuban immigrant, and the experiences and issues facing other immigrants. She also talked about the Long Island hate crime case that inspired her to write her most recent book, Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town. The book focuses on the killing of an Ecuadorian man by a group of teens targeting immigrants.