Suzanne Perez
Education Reporter | Assistant News DirectorSuzanne Perez is a longtime journalist covering education and general news for KMUW and the Kansas News Service. Before coming to KMUW in 2021, Suzanne worked more than 30 years at The Wichita Eagle, where she covered schools and a variety of other topics. In addition to her news reporting, Suzanne reviews books for KMUW, co-hosts the monthly Books & Whatnot podcast and helps lead the station’s monthly Literary Feast book club. She created the #ReadICT Reading Challenge, an annual partnership with the Wichita Public Library that encourages adults to read more broadly.
When not reporting or writing, Suzanne enjoys cooking and traveling with her husband, Andy, playing fetch with their Labrador retrievers, Zeke and Raina, and snuggling with her cat, the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Suzanne has been honored with a National Edward R. Murrow Award for hard news for her story about social-emotional learning in schools: Research shows social-emotional learning in schools pays off, but conservatives see a liberal agenda. She won a national Society of Professional Journalists award for 3,000 Kansas kindergartners and untold preschoolers skipped last year. Now they’re behind, and a national Public Media Journalists Association award for Derby residents pack school board meeting to support principal’s lesson on ‘white privilege’. She has also won numerous Kansas Association of Broadcasters awards for her education coverage.
Suzanne can be reached by email at perez@kmuw.org.
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Crews converted the old Southeast High School’s former library into a new boardroom, which doubles as a staff training room. The total cost for the project is estimated at $571,000. -
Western Kansas has inserted itself into the corn-belt, a region of the Midwest from Ohio to Nebraska that has dominated corn production. But despite an increase in corn acres, Kansas still ships in a lot of corn to keep up with the beef industry. Coming up, we will hear about how one crop took over a region in Kansas and the long-term challenges the industry faces. And we have news from Wichita and around the state. -
Beth Macy's new nonfiction narrative, "Paper Girl," is part memoir, part reportage, part oral history, and the result is a comprehensive look at a microcosm of modern America. -
Wichita’s headcount for the 2025-26 school year is 45,075, down from 46,556 last year. The state’s largest district has lost about 6,000 students — a nearly 12% drop — over the past decade. -
Ron Rindo's new novel, "Life & Death & Giants," tells the story of a modern-day giant who is raised in an Amish community in Wisconsin. -
The Kansas State High School Activities Association has not sanctioned girls' flag football as a full varsity sport, but this year’s pilot program could set a path for that to happen. -
Author Addie E. Citchens was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and raised as a church kid, and that background breathes life into her debut novel, "Dominion." -
K-State leaders say they requested the change to comply with a new state law that requires state agencies to eliminate any policies or programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion. -
Book reviewer Suzanne Perez and Marginalia host Beth Golay talk about their recent reads and offer a long list of books coming to the big or little screen. -
Angela Flournoy's sophomore novel, "The Wilderness," follows five Black women over the course of a 20-year friendship, from young adulthood into middle age. It recently made the longlist for the National Book Award for Fiction.
