On November 5, 2026, the Vassar Institute for the Liberal Arts (“the Institute”) will welcome Emmy-winning journalist Natasha Bertrand ’14 as the inaugural speaker in “The Truth Project,” a public lecture series dedicated to the role truth and objectivity play in promoting an informed citizenry. This new series from the Institute for the Liberal Arts brings together journalists, scholars, members of the media and the community to listen, learn and discuss these vital components of a functioning democracy.

After graduating from Vassar in 2014, Bertrand began her career at Business Insider, where she covered U.S. foreign policy and national security. She then became a staff writer for The Atlantic and later POLITICO while also reporting for NBC and MSNBC. The quality of her work and her quick rise as an authority on U.S. foreign policy earned her a place on Forbes’ “30 Under 30” for her coverage in 2019 of the Trump-Ukraine scandal. She is now a correspondent covering National Security for CNN, where she was part of the Emmy-winning team that covered the war in Ukraine. She currently reports primarily from the Pentagon.

“Natasha Bertrand is the ideal person to launch the Truth Project,” Wesley Dixon, program director of the Institute, said. “Her role as a journalist in an era of misinformation and disinformation gets right to the core of what this series is about.”

The Truth Project will welcome two speakers to campus per year to speak on topics related to the series’ focus. Then, they will deepen the conversation through workshops with students and faculty, as well as an episode of “Conversations at the Salt Line,” Vassar’s podcast.

“This series aligns perfectly with the Institute’s mission and programming,” the Institute’s faculty director, Professor Robert K. Brigham, said. “Examining the notion of truth—questioning it, re-valuating it, evolving it—has been a central focus of a liberal arts education for hundreds of years.”

About Vassar College

Founded in 1861 and based in Poughkeepsie, Vassar is renowned for pioneering achievements in education, for its long history of curricular innovation, and for the beauty of its campus, just 85 miles north of New York City. Originally founded to provide women an education equal to that once available only to men, Vassar became coeducational in 1969.