International Relations Alum Wins MacArthur “Genius Award” [Wisconsin State Journal]

[NB: The International Relations major is now the International Studies Major.]

UW-Madison graduate awarded a ‘genius grant’

By George Hesselberg | 608-252-6140 | ghesselberg@madison.com

Lynsey Marie Addario, a 1995 graduate of UW-Madison and a photojournalist who has “exposed the tragic consequences of human conflict,” has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, also called “the genius grant.”

According to university records, Addario earned a bachelor of arts degree in International Studies and Italian.

Born in Connecticut, Addario had no professional photography experience before 1996. After photographing in Argentina, Italy, India, across Africa, and Mexico, she has spent the last three years working out of Istanbul, Turkey, according to the National Geographic Society, for which she has also worked.

In announcing the 2009 winners, the The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation noted Addario’s “dedication to demystifying foreign cultures.” The subjects of her photographs (see www.lynseyaddario.com) have included wounded soldiers in Iraq, refugees in Sudan, bombings in Turkey, infant mortality in Africa, and Cuban society under communism.

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