Professor Bob Rucker and Journalism graduate students at the Unique Lives lecture series featuring Lara Logan.

As part of the Unique Lives lecture series in Campbell, Chris Di Salvo, School of Journalism and Mass Communications (JMC), who moonlights as an associate producer of the series invited Bob Rucker, JMC, and Journalism graduate students to attend the third lecture featuring Lara Logan, Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, 60 minutes.

Halima Kazem, JMC, did a superb job interviewing the award-winning journalist on stage before hundreds of people gathered at the Heritage Theater. They shared experiences covering war torn Afghanistan and other international hot spots. For more than an hour, Logan spoke eloquently and candidly to the audience about her personal life and challenges growing up in South Africa, the wisdom and encouragement from her mother, and the bold news reporting she did on the operation to take back Mosul from ISIS, the little known victims of the Holocaust of World War II, and her touching stories from the front lines of the Ebola crisis in the forests of central Africa.

The most moving interaction came when Logan described in horrifying detail how she was almost killed in Tahrir Square in Egypt. In 2011, Logan was violently sexually assaulted and beaten by a mob of some 300 men while reporting a story for 60 Minutes on the Egyptian Revolution. She eventually broke her silence about the brutal attack on 60 Minutes to draw attention to the plight of men and women, as well as female journalists covering war zones.

Click here to see that revealing 60 Minutes report.

After the two hour community presentation, a small group of SJSU faculty, students and guests were invited on stage to meet Logan including journalism major Salvatore Maxwell from the JMC School Spartan Media, Joseph Di Salvo, spouse of Chris Di Salvo, and Bob Rucker. Rucker invited Lara Logan to come visit San José State University in the future. She welcomed the idea!

Left to right: Devin Fehely, KPIX 5; Ben Corrales, Bob Rucker’s husband; Lara Logan, 60 minutes Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent; Bob Rucker, Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications