Lisa Ling does her thing

Television journalist Lisa Ling shared stories of her work with Channel One News, National Geographic and The Oprah Winfrey Show as part of the University of Cincinnati's Lecture Series on Tuesday, May 27 in the Great Hall of Tangeman University Center.

Ling, whose featured topic was "The Importance of a Global Perspective," explored her experiences in the maximum security holding grounds of the California State Prison, Sacramento, her trials in the middle of war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq and the adoption of children from China to the U.S.

"I love to convey to young people the importance of having a global perspective just because it's changed my life in such positive ways and really made me a smarter, more human person," Ling said. "I think it's really important for young Americans to really be engaged and be aware of what's happening in the world. I mean, we are the future leaders of the world."

The 34-year-old Ling opened the evening jokingly saying, "I've never been in any of the Charlie's Angels movies," since many confuse the Sacramento, Calif. native with the film's co-star, Lucy Liu.

After waiting for the laughter of the audience to die down, Ling continued by saying, "We all look alike, don't worry."

Ling revealed that she always had a "burning desire to be in this box" with this box being the television set as she would pretend to be a member of The Brady Bunch - becoming Marsha Brady while forcing some of her relatives to be other members of the cast.

While never having graduated from college, Ling spoke of her studies at the University of Southern California and how her work with Channel One News was like "grad school."

At age 18, Ling became one of the youngest members of the reporting staff at Channel One News, which broadcasts to middle schools and high schools around the country.

"I would put the journalism we were doing [at Channel One News] up against any networks then and now."

Ling served as a host of The View from 1999 to 2002 but left the show after feeling frustration.

According to Ling, she felt she was hired to fill the young co-host role, which required her to know a lot about pop culture. But Ling felt she had much more to offer.

"I'm a pop culture junkie like the next person, but for my job I wanted to show that our generation had more layers to offer than that." Ling said.

The University of Cincinnati Police Department provided security for Ling during her visit. Ling made it a point to embarrass one of the officers, Specialist Doug Barge, who prior to the lecture told her that he was an avid Oprah viewer.

"She just caught me off guard," Barge said. "She made mention of Oprah when I was bringing her over here and I just made the comment that 'Oh yeah I watch her everyday' and I had no idea she was going to bring that up. It was well worth it. The few minutes of embarrassment was worth it because she's an awesome person."

Ling's lecture was sponsored by numerous UC organizations including Student Activities and Leadership Development (SALD), Program Activities Council (PAC) and the Delta Phi Lambda Asian Interest Sorority, Inc., which is dedicated to exemplifying respect, integrity, discipline and academic excellence, according to Vice President Maiko Yamashita, a fourth-year nursing student who was very honored to have Ling visit UC.

"She started so young but it proves that you can be mature and make changes in the world at a young age," Yamashita said. "But also show the importance of opening your eyes to see reality that's right in front of us and to make something out of it and do something to change it. As an Asian-American woman there's a lot of stereotypes that she's broken for us and for generations to come and I really respect her and I'm thankful for that." 

Newly elected Student Government President Ryan Rosensweig attended the lecture and reception, which followed afterward and said he felt Ling's visit was a good step toward the university's goal of building a more diverse campus.

"I think it goes along with our mission of really trying to be more inclusive, to represent diversity," Rosensweig said. "But in general I think it's just awesome to have a role model that is closer to our age and that really we are able to see her impact for us."

Ling currently works as a special correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show and ended her lecture with words that the media mogul once told her.

"Now that you know, you can't pretend that you don't."

Terri Hurdle, program coordinator for Leadership Programs and Student Organizations, hopes to bring more awareness to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) and HIV issues through the lecture series next school year.