New Nieman Fellows Named

Harvard’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism announced its 68th class of U.S. Nieman Fellows on Wednesday, 12 journalists who will spend the 2005-2006 academic year studying at Harvard as part of the world’s oldest mid-career fellowship for journalists.

This year’s class includes a Baghdad correspondent for the New York Times, an independent documentary filmmaker based in Mass., and the London bureau chief for the Boston Globe.

Each year, the Nieman Foundation selects working journalists “of accomplishment and promise for an academic year of study in any part of the university,” according to a press release issued Wednesday. The Fellows each receive a $55,000 stipend, as well as a housing allowance.

According to Nieman Foundation Curator Bob Giles­—who was himself a Nieman Fellow in 1966­—auditing classes is the focus of the Fellows’ activities at Harvard.

“When they apply, part of their proposal is how they would spend the year at Harvard and why their proposal for study has a direct link to what they’re covering as a journalist,” he said. Giles noted that past Fellows have taken classes at Harvard College, Harvard’s Law, Business, and Divinity Schools, and the Kennedy School of Government.

Though there is no research component to the fellowship, Fellows are expected to complete all the course requirements for one class each term.

Giles said that Fellows’ time at Harvard often leads to larger projects. “Some of them, during the course of the year, will get an idea for a book and will begin to work on it, but not at the expense of their class obligations,” he said.

In addition to taking classes, Nieman Fellows are expected to contribute to the Harvard community, though they are not formally required to do so.

“We tell them in the beginning that they’re going to take a lot away from Harvard and we hope during the year that they have the opportunity to give something back,” Giles said. Past Fellows have given lectures, participated in panels, and offered feedback to student publications.

According to Giles, the 2005-2006 Fellows were selected from a pool of 111 applicants. He said that, of the group, “a good 65 to 70 percent are people who you could see being a Nieman Fellow.”

During the last weekend in April, 29 finalists were interviewed by a five-person selection committee, chaired by Giles. “They come to Cambridge and each candidate spends 30 minutes with us and after the interviews are over we choose the 12 fellows,” Giles said.

“It is very competitive,” he added.

Nancy San Martin, a world reporter for the Miami Herald who was selected as a 2005-2006 Nieman Fellow, said yesterday that her selection came as a surprise.

“I know how stiff the competition is and I respect my colleagues very much. It was a relief and somewhat of a surprise to be selected,” she said.

San Martin, who said that she has been working since she was a teenager, saw the fellowship as a unique chance to focus on learning in the middle of a busy career.

“I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time,” said San Martin. “I saw this as an opportunity to step back and soak up knowledge, for the first time in my life, really.”

San Martin hopes to use her time at Harvard to study the history of conflicts, the emergence of post-turmoil societies, and America’s role in development and the effects of globalization.

“I’m hoping to use the opportunity for really delving into the issue of conflicts. In simple terms, trying to understand from the ground up why war happens and how nations move on,” she said.

Cathy Grimes, an education reporter with the Walla Walla, Wash. Union-Bulletin and another newly minted Nieman Fellow, said yesterday she became interested in the fellowship when she started looking at the educational opportunities offered by Harvard.

“I went online and started looking at the course catalogs, and found lots of classes that would dovetail on what I write about,” Grimes said. “The idea of actually spending time talking to experts and taking classes in these things was extremely appealing.”

“It’s like being a kid in a candy store,” she said.

The Nieman fellowships, which have been handed out annually since 1938, can have a great impact on the careers of the journalists who receive them. “It had a great effect on mine,” said Giles, who was promoted to City Editor at the Akron, Ohio Beacon Journal after completing his fellowship.

—Staff writer Adam Goldenberg can be reached at goldenb@fas.harvard.edu.