Columbia Journalism School Appoints Sharyn Alfonsi and Scott Pelley as Journalists in Residence
Award-winning journalists will mentor students, pursue reporting projects and bring decades of newsroom experience to Columbia.
Columbia Journalism School (CJS) is pleased to welcome two accomplished investigative reporters this fall. Award-winning journalists Sharyn Alfonsi and Scott Pelley have been appointed Journalists in Residence for the 2026–27 academic year.
The appointments are part of the CJS2030: Democracy Initiative, a pillar of Dean Jelani Cobb’s vision for the J-School’s next decade. The initiative draws on classroom training and the work of CJS centers to strengthen accountability reporting and journalism’s role in sustaining democracy.
During their residency, Alfonsi and Pelley will work closely with students, individually and as a group, through lectures, workshops and special events designed to sharpen their reporting, investigative and sourcing skills. They will also each contribute a piece to the Columbia Journalism Review. Their appointments give CJS students access to two journalists whose reporting has shaped the national conversation for decades. Alfonsi and Pelley have covered many of the defining stories of our time—from war and politics to public health, criminal justice and international affairs.
“We're both excited and honored to welcome two journalists of this caliber to our Journalist in Residence Program,” said Jelani Cobb, Dean and Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism. “Their distinguished track records in investigative reporting highlight the amazing opportunity our students will have to learn from them, and we look forward to having Sharyn and Scott with us this year.”
Alfonsi brings more than three decades of broadcast reporting experience to CJS. She began her career in local news in 1994 and went on to serve as a correspondent for CBS News and ABC News, covering major domestic and international stories. She joined 60 Minutes as a correspondent in 2015. Alfonsi has covered many of the pressing issues shaping the United States and the world, including immigration, war, public health, politics and criminal justice, reporting from conflict zones in Afghanistan and Iraq.
During her time at 60 Minutes, Alfonsi earned multiple Emmy awards and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award for her reporting from the U-S- Mexico border. Earlier this year, she was awarded the Ridenhour Prize for Courage at the National Press Club.
“Joining Columbia University as a Journalist in Residence is an extraordinary privilege, especially at a time when deep, rigorous and fearless reporting has never been more vital,” said Alfonsi. “I’m excited to work with the next generation of journalists who are eager to ask the tough questions that hold power accountable.”
Pelley joins CJS after more than 37 years at CBS News. He served as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News and spent 27 years as a correspondent at 60 Minutes. His reporting has placed him at the center of some of the most consequential moments in recent history. As a war correspondent, Pelley covered conflict zones in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Sudan. On September 11, 2001, he was reporting from the World Trade Center when the North Tower collapsed. As a political reporter, Pelley has interviewed U.S. presidents from George H.W. Bush to Joe Biden.
He is also the author of “Truth Worth Telling: A Reporter’s Search for Meaning in the Stories of Our Times,” a 2019 memoir. Over the course of his career, he has earned 51 Emmy Awards, three George Foster Peabody Awards and four Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Awards. This year, he was co-host of the duPont-Columbia annual awards ceremony.
“This is a critical time for a free press,” said Pelley. “Columbia is leading the way in training the next generation of great journalists and I am honored to join Sharyn in that vital cause.”
Together, Alfonsi and Pelley advance Columbia Journalism School's longstanding commitment to pairing academic rigor with guidance from accomplished journalists to inspire the next generation of the profession.
About Columbia Journalism School
For more than a century, Columbia Journalism School has been preparing journalists in programs that stress academic rigor, ethics, journalistic inquiry and professional practice. Founded with a gift from Joseph Pulitzer, the school opened its doors in 1912 and offers a Master of Science, Master of Arts, a joint Master of Science degree in Computer Science and Journalism and Doctor of Philosophy in Communications. It houses the Columbia Journalism Review, the Brown Institute for Media Innovation and the Tow Center for Digital Journalism. The school also administers many of the leading journalism awards, including the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, the Maria Moors Cabot Prizes, the John Chancellor Award, the John B. Oakes Award, the J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project, Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award and the Meyer “Mike” Berger Award.