First
Newfield Professorship in Journalism at Hunter College
Awarded
to Wayne Barrett
Date:
February 3, 2006
Contact: Meredith Halpern (meredith.halpern@hunter.cuny.edu)
Phone: (212) 772-4068
Hunter College President Jennifer
J. Raab today announced that Wayne Barrett, a Senior Editor at the
Village Voice, has been awarded the inaugural Jack Newfield Visiting
Professorship in Journalism by Hunter College. The professorship,
named in memory of journalist and Hunter alumnus Jack Newfield, was
created to maintain his legacy through special classes, other programs
and activities.
“As Jack Newfield’s colleague at the Voice and an investigative
journalist in his own right, Wayne Barrett brings a unique insight
to Hunter College students,” said Raab. “They will learn
from one of New York’s best reporters how journalists can continually
rediscover, and tell the story, of the drama of a great city remaking
itself again and again. We look forward to his presence on campus
and to his challenging our students.”
Barrett said he is honored by his selection as Hunter’s first
Jack Newfield professor, and that he will spend his semester as a
professor offering his students “a window into the life of City
Hall and the state capitol in Albany, offering insiders’ views
of city and state politics as seen through the eyes of guests from
the mayor’s office, the city council, and the journalists who
cover them.”
Jack Newfield graduated Hunter College in 1960, with a BA in English,
and began his distinguished journalism career as sports editor of
the school newspaper, the Hunter Arrow. It was as a reporter for the
Village Voice that Newfield developed his reputation as a crusading
journalist, and his annual lists of “Ten Worst Judges,”
and “Ten Worst Landlords” quickly became “must reads”
among New Yorkers. The author of 10 books, Newfield went on to report
for the Daily News, the New York Post and The New York Sun. He won
a George Polk Award for investigative journalism while at the Village
Voice, and an Emmy for a documentary about boxing promoter Don King.
Raab said that students have been chosen for the course, offered in
the spring 2006 semester, from Hunter College’s film and media,
and urban studies programs. The students will further develop their
own investigative skills by creating the class’ version of “The
Ten Worst Landlords” column that Newfield made a staple at the
Village Voice. The Voice will publish the class project, Raab said.
In addition to covering New York for nearly 30 years at the Village
Voice, Barrett is the author of three books about the city, City for
Sale – about the political corruption scandals during Mayor
Ed Koch’s tenure, co-authored with Newfield; Trump: the Deals
and the Downfalls; and Rudy! An Investigative Biography, a news-breaking
examination of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani that was turned into a made-for-TV
movie. He is currently writing a book about how the city prepared
for and dealt with the September 11 attack.
About Hunter
With a highly diverse student population of more than 20,000, Hunter is the largest college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system and the first choice among all CUNY applicants. Founded in 1870, the College offers more than 170 undergraduate and graduate programs. Hunter is noted for its professional schools in education, health sciences, nursing and social work, as well as its excellence in the liberal arts. Heralded as the "Crown Jewel of CUNY" by The Princeton Review, Hunter College has a distinguished reputation for nurturing talented minority scientists and meeting the challenge of providing high-quality science education in the 21st century. The College also oversees the Hunter College Campus Schools serving gifted and talented students, preschool through grade 12. For more
information about Hunter College, please visit our Web site at http://www.hunter.cuny.edu.
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