What I Cover
As The Chronicle’s international reporter, I cover American higher education’s engagement in the world, including foreign students and study abroad, comparative education, and, increasingly, the impact of geopolitics on colleges. My reporting has taken me to Bangladesh to write about women’s education, to China to detail experiments with the liberal arts, and to Ghana to understand the aspirations of the world’s fastest-growing youth population.
I created and write the Latitudes newsletter. You can subscribe for free to get weekly global-education news and analysis.
My reporting also examines the economic, cultural, and political divides that shape the relationship between the public and American higher education. While I’m a policy nerd, much of my work focuses on the often-complicated feelings people have about college. I’m a die-hard Washington Nationals fan, and one of my favorite stories is about how amateur research on the Negro Leagues rewrote the history of America’s pastime.
My Background
I covered politics at the state and national level before joining The Chronicle in 2004. I’ve received the East-West Center’s Jefferson Fellowship for reporting in Asia and the International Reporting Project fellowship. My work has appeared on NPR and in The New York Times and Washington Monthly. I frequently speak at conferences and in the press.
I studied government and political philosophy at Smith College. An expat Newfoundlander, I now live in San Francisco.
Connect
I welcome story ideas and feedback at karin.fischer@chronicle.com. You can also connect with me on X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky.
