Journalist Receives Civic Leadership Award

From left are: Kim McLarin, associate professor of Writing, Literature and Publishing, President Lee Pelton, awardee Nikole Hannah-Jones, and Sylvia Spears, vice president for Diversity and Inclusion.

Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones told an Emerson College audience this week that she uses her work to “propel change,” writing extensively about racial injustice and civil rights.

Hannah-Jones was on campus October 14 to receive President Pelton’s Award for Civic Leadership, which recognizes her “courage in advancing social justice.” Before an audience of students, faculty, and staff, Hannah-Jones accepted a framed award from Pelton and then participated in an interview by Kim McLarin, associate professor of Writing, Literature and Publishing. A Q&A with the audience followed.

Hannah-Jones is a staff writer for the New York Times Magazine, and before that was an investigative reporter for ProPublica, where she spent three years chronicling the way official policy creates and maintains segregation in housing and schools. She has also been a news reporter for The Oregonian and an education reporter for the Raleigh, NC, News and Observer as well as the Chapel Hill News.

­Established by the President’s ­Office and the Elma Lewis Center for Civic Engagement, Learning, and Research, the President’s Award for Civic Leadership celebrates the extraordinary civic leadership of individuals who—like Nikole Hannah-Jones—are making substantial contributions to our society.

President Pelton presents the Civic Leadership Award to journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones.