Beth Nissen has a formidable resume but she is warm, friendly and very approachable. She received a B.A with Honors in Journalism from Michigan in 1975 and an M.S. in journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1976. She has graced most of the mainstream media newsrooms as a reporter: WSJ, Newsweek, ABC News and CNN, ending as Senior Producer for NBC Learn, the educational arm of NBC. She was stationed in New York, Mexico City and Houston. 

She has returned to Ann Arbor, where she shares a home with her father, retired UM-LSA Assistant Dean Eugene Nissen, and works as a freelance producer of science and education videos for NBC Learn, the National Science Foundation, Scholastic, and other online content producers.

Beth also works as a tutor and writing specialist for student-athletes at the University of Michigan. She is developing strategies, plus printed and online materials, to help these students improve their skills in reading with discernment and judgment, and writing clear, evidence-based text — what College Board President David Coleman calls the critical 21st century ability to “read like a detective and write like a reporter.” 

Beth is also trying to make progress on three books she is writing:  a history of the knife (from the earliest pre-hominid edged stone tools, to laser and gamma ray knives); a biography of the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius; and a novel.  Watch for her at lunch to have an informative conversation.

—Submitted by Agnes Reading