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Photograph of Marina Lopes

Marina Lopes Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SOC | Journalism

Contact
Marina Lopes
SOC | Journalism
4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Main Campus
Degrees
Degrees

M.S. in Journalism, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

B.S. in International Relations, Boston College

Bio
Marina Lopes is a journalist, author, and foreign correspondent with more than a decade of experience reporting across five continents.

Before joining American University, she covered Brazil for The Washington Post, reporting on politics, climate, public health, and human rights throughout Latin America. She has also reported for Reuters, the BBC, and PBS, and her work has appeared in TIME, The Guardian, The Atlantic, and other international outlets.


Her book, Please Yell at My Kids (Hachette, 2025), blends global reporting and memoir to explore how parenting practices around the world can help Americans rebuild community and raise independent, resilient children. The book received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and was selected for the 2025 Non-Obvious Book Awards Longlist.


At AU, Marina teaches Writing for Communication and Advanced Reporting, with a focus on narrative storytelling. She brings extensive field experience into the classroom, helping students develop strong interviewing, pitching, and story-development skills while preparing them for a rapidly changing media landscape.


Marina’s reporting has been supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation and the Neal Peirce Foundation, and she is a 2025–26 Solutions Journalism Network Fellow.


Areas of expertise:
Artificial Intelligence and higher education, global reporting, narrative journalism, parenting and social policy, solutions journalism, Latin America, Southeast Asia, cross-cultural communication, media writing, and newsroom development.
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request. Explore all AU Faculty Experts in our media guide.

Teaching

Fall 2025

  • COMM-200 Writing for Communication

Spring 2026

  • COMM-200 Writing for Communication

  • COMM-260 Quant Methods for Journalists

  • COMM-294 Comm Service Learning Project: Writing for Communication