Princeton University Program in Journalism

Degrees offered

Princeton does not have a journalism school. Journalism is taught through the Program in Journalism, housed in the Humanities Council, which offers an undergraduate minor in journalism open to students in any concentration.

Programs and emphasis

The program's Ferris and McGraw Seminars bring eight to nine practicing journalists and nonfiction writers to campus each year to teach intensive, single-semester seminars on topics such as international news, war reporting, audio journalism, and narrative nonfiction. Recurring courses include "The Literature of Fact" and "Creative Nonfiction," both associated with longtime Ferris Professor John McPhee. In 2018, Princeton's faculty voted to formalize the seminars into a Program in Journalism and to offer, for the first time, an undergraduate certificate; the program later added a minor in journalism.

History

Princeton's journalism courses were inaugurated in 1957 by a bequest from Edwin F. Ferris, an 1899 alumnus and former New York Herald journalist. The Ferris McGraw Robbins Professors in Journalism have taught seminars at Princeton since 1964. Joe Stephens, a former Washington Post investigative reporter, was named the second Ferris Professor in Residence in 2014 and became founding director of the formalized Program in Journalism in 2018.

Key faculty and leadership

Eliza Griswold: Director of the Program in Journalism and Ferris Professor of Journalism.
Deborah Amos: Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence and international correspondent for NPR, teaching in the program since 2017.
John McPhee: Longtime Ferris Professor of Journalism and staff writer for The New Yorker since 1965.
Joe Stephens: Founding director of the Program in Journalism (2018) and former Ferris Professor in Residence.

Location and contact info

Website
https://journalism.princeton.edu