Rafael Suarez, Jr. (born March 5, 1957), known as Ray Suarez, is an American broadcast journalist and author. He is currently a visiting professor at NYU Shanghai and was previously the John J. McCloy Visiting Professor of American Studies at Amherst College. Currently Suarez hosts a radio program and several podcast series: ''World Affairs'' for KQED-FM, ''Going for Broke'' for the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, and "The Things I Thought About When My Body Was Trying to Kill Me" on cancer and recovery. His next book, on modern American immigration, will be published by Little, Brown. He was the host of '' Inside Story'' on Al Jazeera America Story, a daily news program on Al Jazeera America, until that network ceased operation in 2016. Suarez joined the ''

PBS NewsHour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of i ...

'' in 1999 and was a senior correspondent for the evening news program on the PBS

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid- ...

until 2013. He is also host of the international news and analysis public radio program '' America Abroad'' from Public Radio International. He was the host of the

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from othe ...

program '' Talk of the Nation'' from 1993-1999. In his more than 40-year career in the news business, he has also worked as a radio reporter in London and Rome, as a Los Angeles correspondent for CNN, and as a reporter for the NBC-owned station

WMAQ-TV WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo outlet WSNS-TV (chan ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. He is currently one of the US correspondents for Euronews.

Personal life

Born and raised in Brooklyn by Puerto Rican parents, Suarez attended public schools in the borough from kindergarten through 12th grade, graduating in 1974 from John Dewey High School. In 1975, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout in the

Brooklyn Council The Greater New York Councils (GNYC) is a local council of the Boy Scouts of America that serves the New York City area. GNYC has a unique organization in that it is sub-divided into borough councils, each of which is led by a borough executive. T ...

. In 2009, Suarez was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award by the NCAC. He earned a BA in African History from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

and an MA in the

Social Sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the o ...

from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and three children, Rafael, Eva, and Isabel. Suarez is active locally and nationally in the Episcopal Church.

Career and publications

Suarez began working at the campus radio station of New York University upon enrolling there as a student in 1974 and eventually became the station's news director. He subsequently moved to the university's newspaper. He later worked as a freelance reporter in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, and in 1981 his coverage of the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II led to his being hired by

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broa ...

. He was, in turn, hired by ABC and then CNN. He became a regular correspondent for the ''

'' in 1999. Between 2009 and 2013, he was one of the program's rotating group of anchors. He is the author of three books. The most recent is ''Latino Americans: The 500 Year Legacy That Shaped a Nation'' published by Penguin/Celebra in 2013. He is also the author of the 1999 book '' The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration: 1966-1999'',https://www.amazon.com/dp/0684834022 ''The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration: 1966-1999'' a social commentary on the causes of the destitution found in the inner city. In 2006, he authored ''The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America'',https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060829974 ''The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America'' which examines the way Americans worship, how organized religion and politics intersect in America, and how this powerful collision is transforming the current and future American mind-set. The book is beginning to gather accolades for its timeliness and fair coverage from many sides of the issue. Suarez was a contributing editor for ''Si'' Magazine, a short-lived magazine depicting the Latino experience in the U.S. Suarez hosted the program ''Destination Casa Blanca'', produced by HITN TV from 2008-2011. The program covered Latino politics and policy for a national audience from Washington, D.C. He is a contributor to the ''Oxford Companion to American Politics'' (June 2012), and wrote the companion volume to a PBS documentary series on the history of Latinos in America, ''Latino Americans: The 500-Year History That Shaped a Nation'' published by Penguin in 2013. Suarez has contributed to many other books, including 'How I Learned English,'' ''Brooklyn: A State of Mind'', ''Saving America's Treasures'', and ''About Men.'' His columns, op-eds, and criticism have been published in ''The New York Times'', the ''Washington Post'', and the ''Chicago Tribune''. He co-wrote and hosted the 2009 documentary for PBS ''Jerusalem: Center of the World,'' and narrated for PBS ''Anatomy of a Pandemic'', on the H1N1 outbreak. In October 2021, the first two episodes of Suarez's podcast series ''Going for Broke'' were released by '' The Nation'' magazine in partnership with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

Honors

*Named as a 1996 Utne Reader ''"Visionaries"'' *Named as Hispanic Business ''"100 Influentials"'' among American Latinos *''1995 Global Awareness Award'' by Current History Magazine *1996 Studs Terkel Award, Community Media Workshop *1993-94 duPont-Columbia Silver Baton Awards (part of NPR's award for on-site coverage of the first all-race elections in South Africa) *1994-95 duPont-Columbia Silver Baton Awards (part of NPR's award for coverage of the first 100 days of the 104th Congress) *1996 Rubén Salazar Award from the

National Council of La Raza UnidosUS, formerly National Council of La Raza (NCLR) ( La Raza), is the United States's largest Latino nonprofit advocacy organization. It advocates in favor of progressive public policy changes including immigration reform, a path to citizen ...

*2005 Distinguished Policy Leadership Award from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

's School of Public Policy *Distinguished Alumnus Award from NYU *Professional Achievement Award from the University of Chicago *2009 - Distinguished Eagle Scout *2010-Hall of Fame, National Association of Hispanic Journalists *2012- Bridge-Builder Award, Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding *2013 Schwartz Visiting Fellow, Pomfret School, Pomfret CT. *Honorary doctorates ** Kalamazoo College, Doctor of Humane Letters

References

External links

*
Inside Story and Ray Suarez bioRay Suarez Interview on KCTS 9 Public Television
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Suarez, Ray 1957 births Al Jazeera people American Episcopalians American radio reporters and correspondents American radio journalists American social sciences writers American television journalists CNN people Hispanic and Latino American people American male journalists John Dewey High School alumni New York University alumni University of Chicago alumni Living people PBS people

Personal life

Career and publications

Honors

See also

References

External links