Senior Editor, International
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Expertise: Internationalization of American higher education | Higher-education developments in other nations | Study abroad | Global competition for foreign-student enrollment
Background: Beth McMurtrie is in charge of international-news coverage at The Chronicle of Higher Education. She directs 11 foreign correspondents as well as a staff reporter who writes about the international activities of American colleges.
McMurtrie has traveled for The Chronicle to report on higher-education developments in China, Japan, and Singapore, among other places. She was responsible for a landmark series in 2007, "The Global Campus," which examined the growing international focus of American higher education.
Under her direction, The Chronicle has established itself as the leading source of news for significant developments in higher education in other countries and their effect on American higher education. Readers also turn to The Chronicle's international section for the latest news in study-abroad trends, campus globalization, and the competition to attract foreign students.
McMurtrie was hired by The Chronicle in 1999 to cover religion, accreditation, and international issues. She was promoted to senior editor in 2003.
Before coming to The Chronicle, she covered higher education for the News & Record, in Greensboro, N.C. She has also been a reporter for The Tampa Tribune and Newsday.
McMurtrie holds a bachelor’s in economics from Wellesley College and a master’s from the Columbia University School of Journalism.
Honors: First prize in small-publication category, Education Writers Association, for articles in "Asia Rising/America Falling" series, 2009 | Second prize in trade-publication category, Education Writers Association, for articles in "The Global Campus" series, 2007 | Utne Independent Press Award for best political coverage, for The Chronicle's international-news articles, 2007 | Best in-depth news reporting on religion, newspapers under 100,000 circulation, American Academy of Religion, 2002.
Media appearances: McMurtrie has been interviewed on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition discussing “U.S. Universities No Longer Only Game in Town.”
