Mayor Pete is just one of four fascinating newsmakers and storytellers Robins School journalist-in-residence Roben Farzad will host on campus this fall for his public radio show Full Disclosure. All the shows will take place before a live audience.

Farzad interviewed chef Sunny Baweja of Richmond’s Lehja, in a sold-out cooking show on Sept. 14. Next up will be MSNBC president Rashida Jones on Nov. 2, in the Robins’ Ukrop Auditorium. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg will appear Dec. 1 at the Modlin Center for the Arts. He also plans to feature Steve Inskeep, host of NPR’s Morning Edition and author of the new book Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America.

“People I'd love to meet over lunch,” are the inspiration for Farzad’s list of guests, along with “iconoclasts, authors, newsmakers — uncommon backstories.”

Farzad has an unusual story as well. As a young boy, he fled Iran with his family in 1978, during the Iranian Revolution. The family settled in Miami, soon to become the murder capital of the U.S., due to the ongoing drug wars. He graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Business School, and has been a contributor to PBS NewsHour and NPR, and a writer for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Businessweek, and other national publications.

Farzad explored Miami in the 1980s for his 2017 book, Hotel Scarface: Where Cocaine Cowboys Partied and Plotted to Control Miami. Today, he lives in Richmond with his wife and two children.

“Our partnership with Full Disclosure gives our students access to a wide range of internationally relevant impact-makers,” said Mickey Quiñones, dean of the business school. “Roben’s masterful interview style also provides a unique learning experience for our audiences. I am excited to see where our collaboration takes us.”

Farzad has recorded previous live shows at the University and said he enjoys being on such a beautiful campus. And here’s what he hopes listeners will take away from his live events: “Learn something. Laugh. Cry. Be together. Feel together. I love it when I look out into the audience and see not a single person on a phone.”

Each hour-long show will be broadcast on NPR member-station Radio IQ — and run on all podcast apps.

Editor's note: The conversation with NPR's Steve Inskeep will soon be scheduled and held in the Robin’s Ukrop Auditorium. See the Full Disclosure at Robins page for the latest details.