Catherine Shen
Host, Where We LiveCatherine is the Host of Connecticut Public’s morning talk show and podcast, Where We Live. Catherine and the WWL team focus on going beyond the headlines to bring in meaningful conversations that put Connecticut in context.
Before her current position, Catherine was Connecticut Public’s education reporter for just over a year. She covered a variety of stories like student mental health, childcare shortages, and teacher burnout. She joined Connecticut Public's newsroom in 2021. The Los Angeles native came to CT Public after a decade of print and digital reporting across the country.
She started her journalism career in the Los Angeles fashion scene. While that was an exciting time, Catherine ultimately needed to get back to her news roots. She was soon traipsing all across California’s Central Coast as a freelance news reporter for several newspapers, where she broke stories about local government, law enforcement, and education. She also covered crime, healthcare, business, as well as arts and culture.
After finding herself on the East Coast, she continued reporting in New Jersey, covering a mix of academic news, nonprofit projects, and human feature stories both off and on camera. Then she moved to Connecticut and started reporting for the New Britain Herald, where she won several Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists awards for her coverage on the COVID-19 pandemic, social justice movements, and police accountability.
Catherine received an undergraduate degree in broadcast journalism from Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. While an undergraduate student, she was a reporter for the university newspaper and its student-run television station, Cable 8 News. She’s also a proud member of the Asian American Journalism Society.
In her downtime, she tries her best to catch up on her reading list but often fails due to a variety of distractions, including reorganizing her bookshelves, scavenging library book sales, and thinking about reading books.
Catherine can be reached at cshen@ctpublic.org and follow her on Twitter at @catshenwnpr.
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This hour on Where We Live, we hear from reporters from the New England News Collaborative on the intersection between climate change and housing. Plus, one organization creating more green spaces in New Haven.
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With new federal limits around PFAS in drinking water, what does this mean for how the "forever chemical" is monitored in Connecticut? Hear from Department of Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani, and Connecticut Mirror investigative reporter Andrew Brown. Plus, Attorney General William Tong gives an update on PFAS-related lawsuits.
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Several branches of the military are in a recruitment crisis. This hour, we learn how the military is addressing the crisis and why fewer Americans are eligible to join the service.
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Hear from one immunology expert about the state of research into long COVID, plus the Patient-Led Research Collaborative. Dr. Daniel HoSang also reflects on the "twin pandemics" of racism and COVID-19.
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The Archdiocese of Hartford includes over 400,000 Catholics across the state. This hour, Archbishop Christopher Coyne joins us to discuss serving the Catholic population in Connecticut and the "Dignitas Infinita," a recent document published by the Vatican.
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Throughout history, our state has been known for making big contributions to aviation technology. This hour on Where We Live, we’re talking about the history and future of flight in our state.
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April is Autism Acceptance Month. A new bill passed last year means that more autistic adults could receive services from the state. This hour, we talk about the Connecticut Autism Waiver program.
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Chinese New Year was in January, but there are many Lunar New Year traditions spanning months. This hour, we’ll hear about some of them. With more than 170,000 Asian and Pacific-Americans in Connecticut, how do you celebrate the new year?
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Financial literacy is now required coursework for all students in Connecticut starting with class of 2027. This hour, we take a look at this course, and hear from the people that got it into classrooms.
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This hour, we discuss the science of the eclipse, and how to safely enjoy it, with Wesleyan astronomer Dr. Meredith Hughes. Plus, "umbraphile" or eclipse chaser Kate Russo explains why these natural phenomena are such a unifying social event.