Katie Rogers, a New York Times White House correspondent, will be speaking at Goshen College on March 6. She will be presenting about her experience in journalism and her new book, “American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, From Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden.”

She previously spoke at GC in 2019 for her Yoder Public Affairs lecture, “Covering the White House in an Age of Misinformation, Mistruths and Mistrust.”

Katie grew up in Elkhart wanting to be a writer. She quickly fell in love with journalism her sophomore year at Loyola University.

“One of my professors, a former music columnist, took us to visit The Chicago Tribune,” she said. “I remember it like yesterday… [I] knew a newsroom was where I wanted to be. I spent college filing stories for The Trib and some for our college paper, The Phoenix, and I took an internship at my hometown paper, The Elkhart Truth.”

Rogers went on to attend graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern and eventually found her way to the Times in 2014.

“I took a job on the overnight desk at the New York Times ten years ago where my primary job was updating an app between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.,” she said. “My background was in social media and reporting, so I started pitching to editors when I saw news breaking overnight.”

Rogers was eventually moved to the day shift and helped to develop a new breaking news desk specifically designed for online news. Recognized for her quick writing, she was picked up by the bureau chief, Elizabeth Bumiller, to cover the White House.

“I started gravitating toward Melania Trump almost immediately, because the White House reporters were so busy with the president, and she was, and is, fascinating,” Rogers said. “That was the first step toward the book.”

As an Elkhart native, Rogers is familiar with Goshen and appreciates what it has to offer.

“For as long as I can remember, Goshen has always been just a cool, artsy, warm, intellectually curious and intellectually stimulating place, and the college has always been an extension of that,” Rogers said.

When she first came to campus, she remembers feeling like Goshen was an oasis for her. “I was happy to come visit in 2019 and talk about my work and I am thrilled to visit again,” she said.

On her return to GC, she said, “I’m happy to talk about covering the White House, reporting and writing a book. … My email is katie.rogers@nytimes.com if anyone would like to send thoughts or questions they’d like me to answer. This is an election year, so I want to be as helpful as possible!”

Rogers reflected that, although she doesn’t necessarily have any personal connections to women in politics, she is more sensitive to the topic than others in a male-dominated industry.

“I think my interest in writing a book like this was to point some of those structural obstacles out,” Rogers said. “It is hard for all women in the public eye, and that includes first ladies, to feel like they are understood or treated with the same consideration that men are conditioned to receive.”

Rogers is finding ways to cover the process of being a first lady while also being sensitive to the thought processes of these characters in politics.

The event will take place on March 6 at 7 p.m. in Rieth Recital Hall, and will include a reception, book sale and signing, and open Q&A session.