Abigail  M.  Foerstner

Lecturer

Abigail Foerstner’s biography, James Van Allen: The First Eight Billion Miles, takes a fresh, fast-paced look at the dawn of the space race when Van Allen and rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun matched wits on America’s first satellite after Sputnik beat the U.S. into orbit. Her seven years of research and writing capture the drama as Van Allen’s discoveries across 8 billion miles and 60 years helped remap the solar system. The book is newly released by the University of Iowa Press, www.uiowapress.org.

Foerstner is currently writing the biographical essay for a book to accompany the 2008 retrospective exhibit of Chicago artist Barbara Crane at the Chicago Cultural Center. Her previous book, Picturing Utopia, documents a lost way of life in a 19th century religious utopia through rare collections of photographs that she recovered, researched and  helped preserve. The book was published in hardcover (2000) and paperback (2005) by the University of Iowa Press.

Foerstner is the arts and antiques columnist for North Shore magazine and writes columns on Chicago area history as well. She has freelanced hundreds of articles on the arts, photography, science, history and education for the Chicago Tribune, CityTalk, Pioneer Press, the Detroit News, Camera Arts and other publications.

Her 34-year career as a journalist began when she initiated science and environmental coverage as a staff reporter for the Suburban Trib sections of the Chicago Tribune and received awards for investigative and environmental reporting. She later wrote weekly photography articles and reviews as a freelance art critic for the Chicago Tribune.  Covering the visual arts and the sciences offers her two parallel visions for approaching the truths of the universe.

Academic Commitments and Philosophy

I coordinate and teach Journalism Methods, the introductory graduate newswriting and reporting program. I also teach health and science journalism in the Chicago newsroom and I am part of the team developing an expanded curriculum for health, science and environmental journalism.

My goal for every class is to coach journalism in an environment that inspires creativity, analytical thinking and a dedication to integrity. I want to give students an edge in a competitive media environment and I applaud Medill’s innovative directions in teaching multiple media storytelling and audience understanding to prepare students for all the new opportunities that beckon. Lots of exciting changes are expanding our curriculum and taking our classrooms into Chicago neighborhoods and neighborhoods across the world. And the traditions that I feel symbolize Medill - commitments to outstanding reporting and watchdog journalism - just keep growing stronger. I revere those traditions as an alum of Medill’s undergraduate and graduate programs.  I returned here to teach as an adjunct faculty member for several years in the 1980’s and again in 2002, joining the fulltime faculty in 2006. 

Phone

847-467-7664

Email

a-foerstner@northwestern.edu