May 16, 2012
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Professor Samuel G. Freedman received Columbia University’s Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching at the University commencement ceremony today.
One of the University’s highest honors, the Presidential Teaching Awards were established in 1996 and recognize Columbia faculty who have had a significant influence on the intellectual development of students at the University. Five are awarded to faculty each year, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Freedman is the author of six acclaimed books, most recently “Who She Was: My Search for My Mother’s Life” (2005) and “Letters To A Young Journalist” (2006). Four of Freedman’s books have been listed among The New York Times’ Notable Books of the Year. He is currently at work on his seventh book, “Goal To Go: Black College Football and the Struggle for Civil Rights.”
He was a staff reporter for The New York Times from 1981 through 1987 and currently writes the column “On Religion.” From 2004 through 2008, he wrote the “On Education” column, which won first prize in the Education Writers Association’s annual competition.
A tenured professor at the Journalism School, Freedman was named the nation’s outstanding journalism educator in 1997 by the Society of Professional Journalists. His renowned class in book-writing has developed more than 60 authors, editors, and agents, and it has been featured in Publishers Weekly and the Christian Science Monitor. He has appeared on National Public Radio, CNN, and the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and has served as a correspondent to “Religion and Ethics Newsweekly” on PBS. He has contributed to numerous other publications and websites, including USA Today, New York, Rolling Stone, Salon, Tablet, and BeliefNet.
Prof. Samuel G. Freedman
More news from the Journalism School
