Current Professors
Fall 2013 Professors
Steve Drummond, Senior National Editor for NPR News, oversees the network’s domestic news coverage with a staff of 70 reporters, editors and producers. In his fall-term seminar on reporting and writing for radio, students will produce short segments that are suitable for radio broadcasting.
Carol Giacomo, foreign affairs editorial writer for the New York Times, does commentary writing about national security. Previously a diplomatic correspondent for Reuters, she is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. This fall, she is leading a seminar on editorials: how they are conceived and constructed and how they aim to shape national debate on important issues.
Mike McGraw, recipient of both Pulitzer and Polk awards, is an investigative reporter for the Kansas City Star. His investigations have uncovered corruption in arenas as varied as agriculture and athletics, criminal justice and the art market. As Ferris Professor this fall he is leading a seminar on investigative reporting.
Amy Ellis Nutt of the Newark Star-Ledger won a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2011. She is the author of Shadows Bright as Glass: The Remarkable Story of One Man’s Journey from Brain Trauma to Artistic Triumph. This fall she is teaching the art and craft of non-fiction writing.
Evan Thomas, former Newsweek editor-at-large, author of eight books and more than 100 cover stories, has won two National Magazine Awards. His newest book is Ike’s Bluff: President Eisenhower’s Secret Battle to Save the World. Ferris Professor in Residence for an extended term, Thomas is teaching The Media in America this fall and Narrative Writing in the spring.
2012-2013 Journalism Professors
Jo Becker, New York Times investigative reporter, won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for her co-authored series on Vice President Dick Cheney. Recipient of many other prizes for her local, national and international investigations, she is currently writing a book about the epic legal battle to bring same sex marriage to the Supreme Court.
Owen Bennett Jones, BBC Middle East correspondent, is known for his ability to make complicated subjects accessible. Recipient of the 2009 Commonwealth Broadcasting Association’s Journalist of the Year Award, he covered Europe and Asia before specializing in the Middle East where he has written from Pakistan, Lebanon and Syria. Author of Pakistan: Eye of the Storm, he is a Ferris Professor this fall, teaching international reporting.
Alma Guillermoprieto joined the New Yorker staff after serving as Washington Post correspondent and South American Bureau Chief for Newsweek, where she exposed the El Salvador massacre in 1982. After training as a dancer with Merce Cunningham and Martha Graham, she taught ballet in Cuba and related the experience in Dancing with Cuba. McGraw-Robbins Professor this fall, she is teaching The Literature of Fact.
Diana Henriques, author of Wizard of Lies, the mesmerizing saga of the Madoff scandal, is a senior writer for the New York Times, specializing in financial news. In 2005 her articles about the fleecing of young soldiers by insurance and investment companies led to congressional hearings for legislative reform. As Ferris Professor this spring, she is teaching a seminar about press coverage of financial fraud.
John McPhee, Pulitzer-Prize winning New Yorker writer and author of 30 books, has been a Ferris Professor since 1974, leading two seminars every three years. Recipient of a Pulitzer Prize and a George Polk Career Award for his “indelible mark on American journalism during his nearly half-century career,” he is on leave this year.
Guy Raz of NPR now hosts All Things Considered after a decade as a foreign correspondent, reporting from more than 40 countries. His spring-term Ferris seminar on audio journalism will explore the challenges of delivering broadcast news in a changing media landscape and the delicate balance between news that is “good for you” versus news that is “popular.” Students will produce their own news broadcasts under the guidance of this Ferris Professor.
P. Sainath is Rural Affairs Editor for The Hindu, an English-language Indian daily with a circulation of 1.6 million readers. Author of Everybody Loves a Good Drought: Stories from India’s Poorest Districts, about media representations of the poor, he has been the subject of two documentary films. Recipient of Amnesty International’s Global Human Rights Journalism Prize in 2000, he is a McGraw Professor this fall, teaching students how to understand and write about inequality.
Evan Thomas, former Newsweek editor-at-large, author of eight books and more than 100 cover stories, has won two National Magazine Awards. His newest book is Ike's Bluff: President Eisenhower's Battle to Save the World. Ferris Professor in Residence for an extended term, he is teaching The Media in America this fall and Narrative Writing in the spring.
Griff Witte, Deputy Foreign Editor for the Washington Post, returns to Princeton where, as an undergraduate, he was Managing Editor of the Daily Princetonian. Former Bureau Chief in Islamabad and Jerusalem, he became Middle East and Asia Editor in 2009, supervising coverage of Iraq and Afghanistan. In his current role, he manages 20 correspondents across the globe. As Ferris Professor this spring, he is teaching a seminar on international reporting.
