Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism: Neil Henry

Neil Henry

Professor and Dean
Phone: 510-642-5999
Email: Neil Henry

Neil Henry worked for 16 years as a metro, national and foreign correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya for The Washington Post, and as a staff writer for Newsweek magazine, prior to joining the faculty in 1993. A former John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University, he is the author of a 2002 racial history, Pearl's Secret. His second book, American Carnival, examining the problems of the news industry's adjustment to the digital age, was published in May, 2007. A graduate in political science from Princeton University, Prof. Henry earned his master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

In May 2009, Professor Henry's appointment as dean, which began on a transitional basis in July 2007, was made permanent. Dean Henry produced important new initiatives at the School during his first two years in the post, including an award winning digital news initiative funded by the Ford Foundation in which J-School students in the program's core reporting classes are producing local news content in multimedia formats for Bay Area communities. Those digital sites include OaklandNorth and Mission Loc@l, winner of a 2009 Webby Award for Internet Excellence.

With the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dean Henry also launched an Africa Reporting Project dedicated to producing new and original journalistic content about the problems of agricultural development and food on the continent.

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"Pearl's Secret," a book by Prof. Henry about his odyssey to uncover his family's racial past.

Prof. Henry's CV can be found here. (PDF format)

Published Stories

Students Leading Way For News Industry San Francisco Chronicle

Dean Neil Henry published an Op-Ed article in the San Francisco Chronicle extolling student work in digital media, in tribute to the Class of 2009.
Young Berkeley Scientist Saves Lives in Darfur Smithsonian Magazine

Neil Henry writes in Smithsonian Magazine about Christina Galitsky, a young Lawrence Berkeley Labs scientist whose cook stove innovation is saving the lives of women and children in Darfur.
Students Investigating Public Records Editor and Publisher

Berkeley grad students are conducting key public records research as part of an unprecedented Bay Area journalistic collaboration probing the August 2 murder of local editor Chauncey Bailey. Read about the project at Editor and Publisher.
Neil Henry on New Media San Francisco Chronicle

Professor and Interim Dean Neil Henry has provided commentaries most recently for the San Francisco Chronicle and Marketplace Radio. His latest book, American Carnival: Journalism Under Siege in an Age of New Media, was published in May, and recently reviewed in the New York Review of Books.
Berkeley Singer Blends Opera, Blues, and Spirituals Berkeley Daily Planet

For the Berkeley Daily Planet Sonia Narang, class of 2008, profiles singer Candace Johnson, a Berkeley postdoctoral fellow whose remarkable repertoire combines elements of Mozart infused with the passion of Mahalia Jackson.
Controversy over Yahoo Money San Francisco Chronicle

First year students Cynthia Dizikes and Zachary Stauffer report in the San Francisco Chronicle on a debate among journalists around the world over a $1 million gift by Yahoo Inc. to a prestigious fellowship for journalists at Stanford University.
Neil Henry on Barry Bonds, The Algebra Project, and Journalism Education San Francisco Chronicle, Smithsonian Magazine, the Quill Magazine

Prof. Henry has written most recently about slugger Barry Bonds in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Algebra Project of 1960s civil rights leader Bob Moses in Smithsonian Magazine, and journalism education in the Quill magazine of the Society of Professional Journalists.
9/11 -- Five Years Later Oakland Tribune

First-year students in a news reporting class worked with the Oakland Tribune to produce a print and multimedia interview project. The project is also mirrored in this site's Projects section.
Launching a J-School in Ethiopia Freedom Forum Online

For Freedom Forum Online, Professor Neil Henry writes about his involvement in launching a journalism school in Ethiopia.
Racial Fallout in the Newsroom Nieman Reports

For Nieman Reports, Professor Neil Henry writes about the racial fallout in the newsroom from the Jayson Blair affair.
To My Former Students: How Race Works The Chronicle of Higher Education

For The Chronicle of Higher Education, Professor Neil Henry writes an open letter to his black former students about the Jayson Blair/New York Times scandal.
Riot and Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War and Its Legacy Mother Jones

For Mother Jones, Professor Neil Henry reviews a book covering the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.
Letter From South Africa Graduate School of Journalism

For the Graduate School of Journalism, Professor Neil Henry describes an international reporting course that began as an exciting but academic study of South African society and issues related to the coming elections but that has become, three months later, a priceless and incomparable exercise in on-the-ground journalistic training.

Courses taught by Neil Henry

Spring 2010: International Reporting: Africa, Women & Agriculture-The Global Food Crisis
Spring 2010: Law and Ethics
Spring 2010: Master's Project Seminar
Fall 2009: International Reporting: Africa, Women & Agriculture-The Global Food Crisis
Fall 2009: Africa Reporting Workshop
Fall 2009: Master's Project Seminar
Spring 2009: Master's Project Seminar
Fall 2008: Master's Project Seminar
Spring 2008: Chauncey Bailey Reporting Project
Spring 2008: Master's Project Seminar
Fall 2007: FSP: Reporters Gone Wild
Fall 2007: Master's Project Seminar
Fall 2007: The Bailey Reporting Project
Spring 2007: Master's Project Seminar
Spring 2007: International Reporting: Ghana
Fall 2006: Reporting the News - Henry
Fall 2006: Master's Project Seminar
Fall 2006: News Features: Writing for The East Bay Express
Spring 2006: Editing for News Writing
Spring 2006: Master's Project Seminar
Spring 2006: News and Feature Writing
Fall 2005: Reporting the News - Henry
Fall 2005: Master's Project Seminar
Spring 2005: FSP: The Newspaper in American Life: Exploring The New York Times
Spring 2005: Sports Reporting and Writing
Spring 2005: Adv Rpt'g: San Francisco Bureau
Spring 2005: Master's Project Seminar
Spring 2002: Frosh Seminar: Reading the Gray Lady
Spring 2002: Reporting on the South
Fall 2001: Reporting the News-Henry
Fall 2001: Master's Project Tutorial
Spring 2001: Mass Media and Society
Spring 2001: Ethics and Law
Spring 2001: Master's Project Tutorial
Fall 2000: Master's Project Tutorial
Spring 2000: Mass Media and Society
Spring 2000: Master's Project Tutorial
Spring 2000: International Reporting-South Africa
Fall 1999: J200 Weekly Assembly
Fall 1999: Reporting the News-Henry
Spring 1999: Mass Media and Society
Spring 1999: International Reporting-Africa
Fall 2004: Reporting the News-Henry
Fall 2004: Master's Project Seminar
Spring 2004: Master's Project Seminar
Fall 2003: Reporting the News-Henry
Fall 2003: Master's Project Seminar
Spring 2003: The Press and Society
Spring 2003: Master's Project Seminar
Spring 2003: Frosh Seminar: Reading the Gray Lady
Spring 2003: Hollywood and the Press
Fall 2002: Reporting the News-Henry
Fall 2002: Master's Project Tutorial