Journalist and best-selling author Kimberly Dozier joins School of International Affairs

Kimberly Dozier, author of Breathing the Fire: Fighting to Survive, and Get Back to the Fight (2011), has joined the faculty of the Penn State School of International Affairs as the 2014-15 General Omar N. Bradley Chair in Strategic Leadership.

While in residence, Dozier will also teach at Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law, Dickinson College, and the U.S. Army War College.

“I'm looking forward to teaching students what to look for when they hear, watch, or read a news story,” said Dozier. “Everything from what the phrase ‘senior administration official’ means when they see it crop up in a newspaper story, to asking themselves, ‘Does this story seem to fairly represent all sides?’”

Dozier covered the war in Iraq for CBS News from 2003 until May 29, 2006, when she was critically wounded in a car bombing that killed the U.S. Army officer that her team was filming, Capt. James Alex Funkhouser, his Iraqi translator "Sam," and her CBS colleagues, cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan.

For the past four years, Dozier has covered intelligence and special operations for The Associated Press out of Washington.

In class, Dozier will ask students to choose three sources of news: one they normally follow, one they have never followed before, and one they can't stand. Students will summarize the coverage of a national security issue by all three every week, which she hopes will make them “literate news consumers,” and more informed citizens. Everyone will have to speak up in every class, just as they'll have to participate in anything from a military, diplomatic, or business strategy meeting in their future careers.

“This is a chance for the introverts (like me) to learn to be situational extroverts, and for the extroverts to learn how to draw out the introverts,” she said. “Hopefully, I can share some hard-earned wisdom along the way, from how to spot top reporting to how to be leader in their chosen field, whatever that may be.”

During her time as the Bradley Chair, her research focus will be on a new book on resiliency, the intelligence community, and special operations. In addition, she will be a contributing writer for The Daily Beast.

In her memoir, Breathing the Fire, Dozier recounts the attack in Iraq, her injuries, and the long road to recovery, including dozens of major surgeries, skin grafts, and extensive physical rehabilitation before she was able to resume her career nine months later.

The author's proceeds from the paperback and e-book go to charities for the combat injured, like Fisher House Foundation, including funding donations of the paperback to patients and families going through the same medical crisis.

Dozier has received a Peabody award, two Edward R. Murrow Awards, and four American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) Gracie Awards. She is the first woman journalist to receive the National Medal of Honor Society's Tex McCrary Award for her coverage of Iraq.

Born in Hawaii, Dozier graduated from Wellesley College with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Anthropology/Human Rights and Spanish, and earned a Master of Foreign Affairs/Middle East at the University of Virginia. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Named in memory of the World War II hero, the General Omar N. Bradley Chair in Strategic Leadership provides a visiting scholar the opportunity to explore with students and faculty the nature of leadership and how it can best and most ethically be exercised in a world transformed by globalization, technology and cultural change. The chair also seeks to enhance the study of leadership and encourage civilian-military dialogue and contribute to the educational and research activities of the partner institutions.

A joint initiative among the U.S. Army War College, Dickinson College, and Penn State’a Dickinson School of Law and School of International Affairs, the Bradley Chair has been held by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and journalist Rick Atkinson; Dr. Richard Kohn, a nationally recognized expert in the relationship between civilian leadership and the military officer corps; Navy Admiral Dennis Blair, former director of national intelligence; Phillip "P.J." Crowley, former assistant secretary of state for public affairs; and former Congressman Joe Sestak.

For more on Dozier, visit kimberlydozier.com or follow her on Twitter at @kimberlydozier.