Meet the Dean
Jelani Cobb, Ph.D., leads Columbia Journalism School as the Dean and Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism. Cobb first joined the faculty in 2016 as founding director of the Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights before becoming the fourteenth Dean of the School.
A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and board member for the American Journalism Project, Cobb has dedicated his deanship to paving pathways to greater access to a journalism education.
In May 2023, he announced a pilot student loan repayment assistance program at graduation, saying: “The Journalism School must be accessible and affordable to a broader range of students; its curriculum must be calibrated to the needs of the field and the broader exigencies of our democracy; and it should serve as a pipeline of diverse talent that in turn helps diversify the profession.”
The program — the first of its kind in the journalism industry — will help support recent CJS graduates who bring their talent and skills to nonprofit news media organizations.
Dean Cobb's priorities include initiatives that touch on six major facets of the school: access, curriculum, A.I, covering climate, diversity and democracy.
Each of these is going beyond answering industry needs — he aims to innovate and prepare students for an ever-changing world.
"Right now, we're navigating a new world of social media, and social change. Journalism is the best tool we have to meet the needs of this moment," he said. "And we can enable the public to trust our work through its rigor, ethics and efficiency. In the darkest times, journalism can be a powerful light."
From the Desk of the Dean
WORD: LIFE honored the late legendary critic Greg Tate with a scholarship founded in his name.
A member of the Class of 2021, Fazil is described as “a talented data journalist, a loving brother and son, and an incredibly kind friend."
A multi-platform journalist and filmmaker, Tu teaches reporting and video storytelling courses as a Professor of Professional Practice.
It is vital that the press has safe, secure access to tell the stories that the global public deserves to hear.
The Faculty of Columbia Journalism School strongly denounces the attack on Elena Milashina, the award-winning investigative journalist of Novaya Ga
