ANN ARBOR—Lawrence Pintak, a 25-year journalist on four continents, is the Marsh Visiting Professor for the fall term at the University of Michigan’s Department of Communication Studies. Pintak is teaching two courses:

• “Terrorism, Islam & the Media,” which gives students a baseline understanding of Islam, U.S. policy toward the Muslim world and the psychology of terrorism. The class examines questions such as: What unique pressures are at work on those covering this sensitive and dangerous story and how have governments and terror leaders used the media?

• “Advocacy Journalism: Conscience, Compassion and Conflict,” which examines the debate over whether reporters abroad should serve strictly as observers or use their journalism to effect change.

“The move from the newsroom to the classroom gives me the opportunity both to help students look at the world through a new lens and to draw on Michigan’s vast resources to bring a new perspective to my own writing,” he said.

Pintak has reported for many of the world’s leading news organizations. He served as both a newspaper editor and the editorial director of an Internet news site, and has provided strategic communications consulting to clients around the world. He covered the birth of modern Islamic terrorism as a CBS News Middle East correspondent in the 1980s and, more recently, reported on the Indonesian revolution and subsequent spread of militant Islam in that region for The San Francisco Chronicle and ABC News. Pintak was twice nominated for Emmy awards and won two Overseas Press Club citations for his Middle East coverage.

Related links:

For additional information on Pintak, visit www.pintak.com. Communication studies