Indian-American named Dean of UC Berkeley School of Journalism

October 30, 2020

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Geeta Anand,a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist specializing in narrative writing and investigative reporting is the first woman to be appointed Dean of the School of Journalism at UC Berkeley. Photo Courtesy: Geeta Anand Twitter

University of California Berkeley, the renowned public university, has appointed a woman as dean of its journalism school, the first in the history of that school. And it is an Indian-American.

In a press release Berkeley announced that after a national search, interim dean Geeta Anand was appointed as Dean of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism effective immediately.

Anand, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist specializing in narrative writing and investigative reporting began teaching at Berkeley in 2018.

She also serves as director of the Investigative Reporting Program at the university.

Anand began her career covering local government in Vermont before going on to become the city hall bureau chief for the Boston Globe, and later serving as a foreign correspondent in India for The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

“After working for nearly 30 years as an investigative reporter, a foreign correspondent and a political reporter—in beats dominated by white men, I know how hard it is to have your work recognized, to be offered equal opportunities for advancement when perceived as other,” Anand is quoted saying in the University newsletter. “I know how hard it is to rise within a system that makes it harder for you and your talents to be truly seen. I have succeeded beyond my wildest imagination because so many people reached down to lift me up.”

Anand is the author of the non-fiction book The Cure. She was a key member of the team of reporters that won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting for their coverage of the history and consequences of corporate scandals in America.

She was a finalist for a 2004 Pulitzer Prize for her contributions to a series of articles that revealed how hidden decision makers make critical choices about who gets health care, writing the lead article for that series.

Among her other honors, Anand is also the recipient of the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting, and the Danny Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting.