Ellis Cose
Ellis Cose is the author of a dozen books on issues of national and international concern, including the best-selling The Rage of a Privileged Class, a novel (The Best Defense), and is currently completing a memoir: Fighting to be Heard. A Chicago native, Cose hold a master's degree in Science, Technology and Public Policy from George Washington University.
He began his career at the age of 19 with the Chicago Sun-Times, where he was a columnist, editor and national correspondent. He has been a contributor and press critic for Time magazine, president and chief executive officer of the Institute for Journalism Education, chief writer on management and workplace issues for USA Today (where he also served as an occasional columnist and member of the board of contributors) and a member of the editorial board of the Detroit Free Press. He's been a fellow at the Gannett Center for Media Studies at Columbia University, at the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences, a senior fellow and director of energy policy studies at the Washington-based Joint Center for Political Studies, and a consultant to the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations.
A longtime columnist and contributing editor for Newsweek magazine (1993 through 2010) and former chairman of the editorial board and editorial page editor of the New York Daily News, was he was also a senior fellow at the Center for Talent Innovation.
Cose is also an independent radio producer (Against the Odds, which he created and hosted, aired in 2008 in more than 100 radio markets in the United States, including eight stations in the top 11 markets, and He followed that up with a four-part series in 2009, which also aired in top radio markets across the United States) as well as a popular campus lecturer and public speaker.
Cose has appeared on The Today Show, Nightline, Dateline, ABC Evening News, Good Morning America, the PBS "Time to Choose" election special, Charlie Rose, CNN's Talk Back Live, and a variety of other nationally televised and local programs. He's been interviewed for British, Brazilian and Canadian television. He was also a judge for the New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. He has received fellowships or individual grants from the Ford Foundation, The Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, and gotten numerous journalism awards-including the University of Missouri medal for career excellence and distinguished service in journalism, two Clarion awards, and four National Association of Black Journalists first place awards. He was named the 2002 winner of the New York Association of Black Journalists' lifetime achievement award, winner of the 2003 award for best magazine feature from the National Association of Black Journalists as well as the winner of two New York Association of Black Journalists' first place 2003 awards for commentary and magazine features. In 2004, he was named the first recipient of the newly inaugurated annual Vision Award from the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. In 2006, He won a Unity award for commentary and also shared in a first place award from the Society of Professional Journalists. He also won the first place 2009 award for commentary from the New York Association of Black Journalists as well as the North Star Foundation's distinguished journalist award for 2009.
Ellis Cose is the author of a dozen books on issues of national and international concern, including the best-selling The Rage of a Privileged Class, a novel (The Best Defense), and is currently completing a memoir: Fighting to be Heard. A Chicago native, Cose hold a master's degree in Science, Technology and Public Policy from George Washington University.
He began his career at the age of 19 with the Chicago Sun-Times, where he was a columnist, editor and national correspondent. He has been a contributor and press critic for Time magazine, president and chief executive officer of the Institute for Journalism Education, chief writer on management and workplace issues for USA Today (where he also served as an occasional columnist and member of the board of contributors) and a member of the editorial board of the Detroit Free Press. He's been a fellow at the Gannett Center for Media Studies at Columbia University, at the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences, a senior fellow and director of energy policy studies at the Washington-based Joint Center for Political Studies, and a consultant to the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations.
A longtime columnist and contributing editor for Newsweek magazine (1993 through 2010) and former chairman of the editorial board and editorial page editor of the New York Daily News, was he was also a senior fellow at the Center for Talent Innovation.
Cose is also an independent radio producer (Against the Odds, which he created and hosted, aired in 2008 in more than 100 radio markets in the United States, including eight stations in the top 11 markets, and He followed that up with a four-part series in 2009, which also aired in top radio markets across the United States) as well as a popular campus lecturer and public speaker.
Cose has appeared on The Today Show, Nightline, Dateline, ABC Evening News, Good Morning America, the PBS "Time to Choose" election special, Charlie Rose, CNN's Talk Back Live, and a variety of other nationally televised and local programs. He's been interviewed for British, Brazilian and Canadian television. He was also a judge for the New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. He has received fellowships or individual grants from the Ford Foundation, The Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, and gotten numerous journalism awards-including the University of Missouri medal for career excellence and distinguished service in journalism, two Clarion awards, and four National Association of Black Journalists first place awards. He was named the 2002 winner of the New York Association of Black Journalists' lifetime achievement award, winner of the 2003 award for best magazine feature from the National Association of Black Journalists as well as the winner of two New York Association of Black Journalists' first place 2003 awards for commentary and magazine features. In 2004, he was named the first recipient of the newly inaugurated annual Vision Award from the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. In 2006, He won a Unity award for commentary and also shared in a first place award from the Society of Professional Journalists. He also won the first place 2009 award for commentary from the New York Association of Black Journalists as well as the North Star Foundation's distinguished journalist award for 2009.
