The Program in Journalism at Princeton University welcomes Erin Banco, Purcell Carson, Vinson Cunningham, David Kushner, and Kevin Sack as Visiting Lecturers in the Humanities Council and Ferris Professors of Journalism in spring 2026. These notable visitors include writers, reporters, podcasters, and filmmakers whose work has been nationally and internationally recognized. They will bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the program, helping students to tell stories of impact and navigate the changing media landscape.
Each visiting professor will teach an intensive undergraduate course in journalism or creative nonfiction within the Humanities Council, the academic home of the long-running Ferris and McGraw Seminars. They will teach alongside the program’s recurring faculty, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author and director of the program Eliza Griswold.
Erin Banco is a national security correspondent focusing on the intelligence community. She covers everything from the wars in Ukraine and Gaza to U.S. covert operations overseas. She previously worked at POLITICO and The Daily Beast as a national security reporter, writing about everything from foreign influence campaigns and the Department of Justice’s Russia investigation to President Trump’s impeachment trial. Her Spring 2026 course will explore the politics of national security journalism.
Purcell Carson is a documentary filmmaker and editor. At Princeton, Purcell is project director of a multi-year community-based documentary venture, The Trenton Project, in which students explore the rich fabric — and pressing issues — of New Jersey’s capital. This semester, she will teach “The Art and Practice of Documentary: Environmental Justice Filmmaking in Trenton,” where students will study Trenton’s industrial history, report on local environmental issues, and interview activists, advocates, and scientists.
Vinson Cunningham is a staff writer for The New Yorker and the co-host of Critics at Large, the magazine’s weekly podcast about culture and the arts. His debut novel, “Great Expectations,” came out in 2024. In his second year in the program at Princeton, he will teach the spring 2026 McGraw Seminar in Writing, which will focus on the many ways that journalism and creative nonfiction can tell stories about people.
David Kushner is a journalist, author, and podcaster. His books include “Masters of Doom,” “Levittown,” the graphic novel “Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master,” and his memoir “Alligator Candy,” which he adapted into a serial podcast. He wrote and directed the audio drama “Dungeon Masters” starring Jon Hamm. During his second appointment as a Visiting Ferris Professor, he will teach a spring 2026 seminar on narrative nonfiction writing and reporting.
Kevin Sack is a journalist who has written broadly about national affairs for more than four decades. He is the author of the forthcoming book “Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church” which will be published in June 2025. His Spring 2026 course, “America in Black and White: Approaches to Telling the Story” will use narrative and investigative techniques to illuminate news stories about race in America.
For more information about the 2025-26 visiting faculty and a list of journalism courses offered in the fall, please visit the Program in Journalism website.
