Jason Koski/University Photography

Jeffrey Gettleman, East Africa bureau chief for The New York Times, delivers the 2015 Krieger Lecture in American Political Culture Feb. 25.

For New York Times journalist Jeffrey Gettleman ’94, taking risks and following a passion has driven his successful career.

Gettleman, East Africa bureau chief for The New York Times, discussed his journey from Cornell undergraduate to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist in the Krieger Lecture in American Political Culture on campus Feb. 25.

“As I entered into Cornell I had no idea what I was doing,” he said. “I chose philosophy as my major because at the time it was the easiest to fulfill requirements.”

Gettleman said at Cornell he had space to explore his interests and told students in the audience, “You have an unique opportunity here to explore whatever’s interesting to you.”

“Take whatever classes you want, spread yourself thin,” Gettleman said. He also explained that his decision to take a year off in the middle of his Cornell career to backpack around the world allowed him to develop his interests and expand his worldview.

“There is a real value to going away, exposing yourself to something new and then coming back so you can do something with those interests,” Gettleman said.

After graduating, Gettleman received a Marshall Scholarship to attend Oxford University, where he received a master’s degree in philosophy in 1996. He said his work ethic and an opportunity to take on significant responsibility at a small organization allowed him to grow as a young professional and launched him into his career. “The journalists that rise up are the ones that love what they’re doing and are determined to make it,” he said.

He explained that as an international journalist he covers a lot of conflicts.  “That’s what people are interested in,” he said.

Despite this, Gettleman said he has a chance to bring about positive change in the world through his stories: “As a journalist, I have to be objective but I don’t have to be neutral.

“We shouldn’t be neutral to injustices,” Gettleman said. “I try to write my stories to move people.” While the risks and sacrifices throughout his career as an internationally based journalist have been numerous, Gettleman said that writing stories has been a way to address the injustices he witnesses.

Abigail Warren ‘15 is a writer intern for the Cornell Chronicle.