Educator, Editor

At home in the newsroom and the classroom.

About Gregg

“…gifted teacher…commands the classroom…engaged and passionate…explains complex ideas in a clear way…"

It’s a powerful combination in the classroom, in person or online: My decades of journalism experience at some of the country’s leading news outlets, including The Miami Herald, NBCNews.com, CNN.com and Politico, coupled with years of successfully teaching news reporting, writing and media at institutions of higher education, in all modalities. During the 2022 Spring semester, I served as an instructor at the University of Florida in Gainesville and Baruch College, CUNY, in New York, both remotely, and this summer I am teaching a course in political journalism at Florida International University in Miami.

Most recently in journalism, I pitched in during 2021 as the interim Business Editor at The Miami Herald, supervising the outlet’s print and digital coverage of real estate, the south Florida economy, tourism and tech.

Prior to that, I served as the Assistant Managing Editor for Politics at NBCNews.com. In my role as leader of NBC’s national digital coverage of government, politics and campaigns, I directed teams of reporters and editors in New York City and Washington, D.C., in coverage of the 2018 congressional midterm elections, 2020 presidential campaign, White House, Congress, Supreme Court and public policy. Among my responsibilities leading a 20-person core team were supervising breaking news, news-of-day, enterprise and long-form multi-media special projects.Gregg Birnbaum

Before joining NBC in 2017, I held senior political digital editing positions at CNN.com, Politico, The New York Daily News and The New York Post. I worked with the most advanced online news tools available in the areas of analytics, SEO, blogging platforms, data graphics and social media.

I care deeply about both the news business and higher education. I bring real-world journalism with me into every class, along with a deep interest in my students and their progress.

Over 11 semesters since 2014 at Baruch College in New York City, part of the City University of New York system, I have taught introductory courses in news reporting/writing, a special topics elective on the 2018 midterm congressional elections and, in 2021, a required 10-week seminar for freshman, helping them to make the transition from high school to college. Over the last two years, I have taught fully online, mastering the art of the “Zoom classroom." I will be returning to Baruch in the Fall 2022 semester.

As an Assistant Adjunct Professor, my responsibilities for these courses included designing syllabi from scratch, formulating in-class and home assignments, selecting informative readings, recruiting guest speakers  and lecturing on the building-block concepts of journalism, such as what is news, how to interview, fact checking and detecting fake news, writing sharp ledes, concepts of story structure and feature writing, ethical practices and much more.

Prior to 2021 and the Covid pandemic, the hybrid in-person/online courses combined weekly classroom instruction with remote learning components, such as active blogs and lively discussion boards, along with varied research projects and challenging field reporting assignments.

At the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications, where I will be returning for the Fall semester in 2022, I work as an adjunct instructor on “Fresh Take Florida,” a news service of the college focusing on Florida state government and politics. Stories in this capstone course are written by award-winning student journalists under the direction of CJC faculty/staff and published by media outlets around the state, including The Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Times, FloridaPolitics and many others.

At Florida International University, over a 12-week semester in the summer of 2022, I am teaching an asynchronous special topics course, “An introduction to political journalism," which covers polling, the midterms and 2024 presidential election, racial, identity and “culture war" issues, the impact of Trump, bias in political reporting and much more. The course, offered by FIU’s School of Communication + Journalism, has an emphasis on diversity issues.

Currently residing in Miami, I lived and worked for many years in New York, the most diverse large city in the U.S., and, at Baruch, I am teaching at one of the most diverse universities in the country.

Baruch ranked 13th out of nearly 800 public and private institutions in the diversity of its student body, according to the 2021 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings.  The makeup of my classes in an urban setting has reflected that diversity, with students of many different backgrounds, and I embrace DEI with a teaching approach of understanding, respect and fairness.

Recently, Baruch also ranked #1 in the Northeast for value, according to The Princeton Review, which takes into account academics, cost and career prospects. And the college jumped 110 points in the 2021 “America’s Best Colleges” ranking by Forbes, placing #64 nationwide. Among public schools, Baruch placed #24, a 25-point rise.

I critique and grade hundreds of assignments each semester (I believe the best way to learn journalism is by doing, again and again — and getting feedback), hold office hours, and have participated in journalism department activities, panel discussions and engaged with tenured faculty.

I am fluent in Blackboard and Canvas. And I have completed teacher training certificate programs offered by the Poynter Institute and the City University of New York‘s School of Professional Studies “Online Teaching Essentials" workshop in 2021.

If you would like more information or have any questions, I can be reached at 917.414.1622 or gregg (at) greggbirnbaum.com.

Best,

References available upon request

Resume

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism and the Writing Professions, Baruch College, City University of New York, January 2014-present. During 11 semesters, taught undergraduate courses in news reporting/writing, a special topic elective on the 2018 midterm elections and a required 10-week first-year seminar for freshmen. Experience instructing in both in-person and fully online modalities.

Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Journalism, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., January 2022-present. Instructing in the capstone course, “Fresh Take Florida,” a student-staffed news service of the college primarily covering state politics and government.

Adjunct Instructor, School of Communication + Journalism, Florida International University, Miami, Fla., May 2022-present. Teaching “Special Topics: An Introduction to Political Journalism."

Instructor, DOROT and Jasa, New York, N.Y., October 2021-present. Facilitating continuing adult education current events classes for two non-profit social service organizations. Select weekly topics, provide news briefings and analysis, moderate discussion.

ACADEMIC RESPONSIBLITIES

  • • Design syllabi for courses on news reporting/writing and political journalism.
  • • Deliver weekly lectures, select reading materials, engage students in lively and respectful classroom discussion, arrange for industry-leading guest speakers, establish course procedures and ground rules.
  • • Develop in-class writing labs, weekly home assignments and in-depth field reporting projects.
  • • Critique and grade all assignments, ensure academic honesty and integrity, hold office hours and manage classes up to 24 students of all undergraduate grade levels.
  • • Participate as a valued colleague in the journalism department, interacting regularly with the chairman and other faculty; guest lecture their courses.

JOURNALISM EXPERIENCE

  • Interim Business Editor, The Miami Herald, June 2021-December 2021. Supervised print and digital coverage of real estate, the south Florida economy, tourism and startups/ tech.
  • Assistant Managing Editor for Politics, NBCNews.com, February 2017-March 2021. Directed teams of reporters and editors in New York City and Washington, D.C., in coverage of the 2018 midterm elections, 2020 presidential campaign and its aftermath, White House, Congress and Supreme Court. Managed breaking news, news of day, enterprise and long-form multi-media special projects.
  • Senior Politics Editor, CNN.com, April 2015-February 2017. Responsible for spot news politics coverage, including writing and sending push alerts, served as lead editor of the popular year-long 2016 presidential campaign live blog and co-managed a cross-platform reporting group on national security, military and Department of Justice.
  • Managing Editor/Head of Political Content, The New York Daily News, January 2015-April 2105.
  • Deputy Managing Editor, Politico.com, January 2011-December 2014.
  • Political Editor, The New York Post, March 2001-Decembember 2010.

EDUCATION

  • • Master of Science, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. June 1985.
  • • Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, Tufts University, Medford, Mass. June 1982.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

  • • “Online Teaching Essentials," CUNY, School of Professional Studies, 2021
  • • “Zoom Your Way! Zoom hacks and shortcuts for ease of use in the classroom," CUNY Center for Teaching and Learning, 2021
  • • Certificate program for adjunct instructors, Poynter Institute-Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State
    University, 2015
  • • Preparation for Teaching Online: A Foundational Workshop for CUNY Faculty, School of Professional Studies, 2014

SKILLS

Zoom and other video conferencing platforms; Blackboard and Canvas; anti-plagiarism tools; social media; SEO, data analytics

References available upon request

Student/Faculty Reviews

"...Birnbaum has an easy conversational style of lecturing, and it was clear from the student participation that they enjoyed the discussion and had great respect for the instructor..." – Professor and former department chairman Joshua Mills, 2022


“…It is very apparent that Prof. Birnbaum is a gifted teacher…” – Prof. Christopher Hallowell, 2017


“…Gregg is an engaging and passionate instructor…” – Prof. Gisele Regatao, 2019


“…His class was extremely well organized and he explains complex ideas in a clear way…” – Prof. Geanne Belton, 2018


“…Commands the classroom in an understated way….” – Prof. Emily Johnson, 2019

Baruch College-required faculty observations of my courses, 2017-2021. (Click to enlarge, highlights mine.)

(Additional faculty observations and student evalutions available upon request.)

  And here's what students are saying on ratemyprofessor.com:

"…one of my favorite journalism professors…builds a great relationship with everyone in the class…"


"...he has a wealth of wisdom, every lecture was informative/fun, every assignment reinforces what you learn during the lectures, and he is one of the best Professors I've ever had!..."


"...he really takes his job seriously, edits every single student's paper and responds to emails quickly…"


"... One of my favorite journalism professors at Baruch. Interesting and funny..."


"...he was very well prepared for each lecture and gave clear insight on what he wanted from his students.…"


"...he is a very smart and helpful professor who really knows what he's doing…"

Editing

Selected NBCNews.com and Miami Herald long-form, multi-media stories on which I served as lead editor, managing the projects from conception to publication.

Contact Gregg

 917.414.1622

 gregg (at) greggbirnbaum.com