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“I had no idea the front page was even a possibility until a few days before publication,” says Aaron Leibowitz, ’18 M.S. Stabile. But on September 6, 2018, Leibowitz saw possibility become reality as his master’s project on social media firms that monitor students in hopes of preventing mass shootings was published on one of the most coveted places in journalism: the front page of the New York Times.

We interviewed him to learn how it happened and how the rigorous Stabile M.S. Investigative Specialization prepared him to report an in-depth investigation for the Times while finishing up graduate school.

“This year’s fellows will advance and expand the range of civil and human rights coverage produced by the center including issues of free speech and race, the policing of black activists and the racial segregation of public schools, a topic that is profoundly personal to Ira A. Lipman, the center’s founder.” said the selection committee consisting of Professors Dolores Barclay, Jelani Cobb, June Cross, Bill Grueskin and Alisa Solomon.

Now in its tenth year of operation, FASPE provides a unique historical lens to engage graduate students in professional schools as well as early-stage practitioners in five fields (business, journalism, law, medicine and seminary) in an intensive course of study focused on contemporary ethical issues in their professions.

A symposium to kick off the Craig Newmark Centers at Columbia Journalism School and the Poynter Institute

This year’s group plans to examine demographic shifts in American suburban school districts, connections between school desegregation policies and affirmative action in higher education, and rural education challenges in both Mississippi and Wisconsin. The winners were chosen by a distinguished board of journalists and education scholars after a competitive application process.