Curriculum vitae
JAMES RODMAN ROSS 60 Broadlawn Park 2C Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
August 1982 M.A. in Journalism and Public Affairs, American University, Washington, D.C.
June 1972 B.A. in American Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Sept 2008 to Jan 2009 Fulbright Lecturer, School of Journalism and Communication, Nanjing University, and guest lecturer at Tianjin University, Henan University and Kunming University
Jan-Feb 2005 Hosted three-week seminar for five Israeli and five Palestinian journalists in Ashland, MA.
July 1994 to present Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Jewish Studies Program. Teach Art of Narrative Non-fiction (Honors), Covering Conflicts (Journalism and International Affairs), Perspectives on Journalism Ethics (Graduate program).
July to November 1994 J. William Fulbright lecturer and researcher, Ecuador. Advised newspaper reporters and editors and television producers in Quito, Guayaquil and elsewhere on reporting and writing techniques
September 1988 to Assistant professor, School of Journalism. June 1994
September 1986 Associate professor of journalism, University to June 1988 of Connecticut. . June 1985 and Visiting journalism professor, Shanghai May-June 1986 Foreign Languages Institute, Shanghai, China.
September 1982 Assistant professor, English Writing to August 1986 Program, University of Pittsburgh.
September 1981 Graduate teaching assistant, American to August 1982 University.
September 1980 Instructor of journalism, University of to June 1981 Connecticut.
SERVICE
Spring 2016 Merit Committee, School of Journalism
Fall 2015 to present Portfolio review committee, School of Journalism. Review portfolios of undergraduate applicants.
Fall 2015 to present Serve on Research Cluster on “Crisis and Pedagogy – Teaching about conflicts and mass atrocity"
September 2010 to Appointed by Dean of College of Social Sciences and Present Humanities to Holocaust Awareness Committee
September 2010 to Executive Committee, Jewish Studies Program. present
July 2004 to August 2010 Director, Jewish Studies Program, Northeastern University. Chaired search committee to hire endowed professor in Jewish Studies. Developed annual programs on diaspora Jewish arts and culture. Headed fundraising efforts among alumni. Established Jewish Studies newsletter. Received grants to hire post-doctoral fellow and Israel Studies professor from Schusterman Foundation. Helped establish Jewish Studies minor and dual major in Religion and Jewish Studies. Helped revive study abroad program in Israel and worked with Combined Jewish Philanthropies to fund a Birthright coordinator at Northeastern.
July 2002 to July 2006 Stotsky Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies, Northeastern University, Boston. Developed new course in American Jewish Film and graduate journalism seminar taught with Israeli journalist Tom Segev on press coverage of the Middle East. Served as guest lecturer in Introduction to Jewish Religion and Culture. Delivered annual Stotsky lectures, including “Re-evaluating Sidney Lumet’s The Pawnbroker.”
July 2002 to August 2004 Graduate coordinator, School of Journalism, Northeastern University. Oversaw admissions, advised students, developed curriculum and promotional materials.
July 1999 to July 2001 Acting Director, School of Journalism. Oversaw hiring and performance reviews of full- and part-time faculty and office staff, supervised budget and internal grant proposals, oversaw advising for more than 400 majors.
July 1995 to June 1998 Chair, Jewish Studies Program. Introduced new interdisciplinary minor, developed curriculum, hired part- time faculty.
July 1994 to June 1998 Graduate coordinator, School of Journalism.
January to June 1997 Acting Director, School of Journalism.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
April 1983 Copy editor, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (part- to April 1986 time). Worked on wire, local and sports desks.
June to Contributing editor, Washington Journalism Review (now August 1982 American Journalism Review). Supervised interns and served as acting editor. . December 1981 Contributing editor, "Inside Story," PBS. to April 1982 Proposed story ideas for national press criticism program.
May 1972 to Reporter and bureau chief, The Hartford Courant. January 1980 Covered news, feature and investigative stories, supervised staff reporters and hired and trained stringers. June to Reporting intern, Washington Star. Selected August 1971 by Dow Jones Newspaper Fund for reporting scholarship.
PUBLICATIONS
Books
The Image of Jews in Contemporary China, Academic Studies Press, 244 pages, 2016. Wrote chapter and co-edited the volume with Song Lihong
Juden in Shanghai, Schicksal und Ende einer judischen Gemeinde in China. Kitab publishers, 208 pages, 2009. Translated and revised edition of Escape to Shanghai: A Jewish Community in China.
Fragile Branches: Travels Through the Jewish Diaspora, Riverhead (a division of Penguin Putnam), 229 pages, 2000
Escape to Shanghai: A Jewish Community in China, The Free Press, 298 pages, 1994.
Caught in a Tornado: A Chinese-American Woman Survives the Cultural Revolution, Northeastern University Press, 175 pages, 1994.
Books, chapters
Contributed chapter on the Shanghai ghetto in Life in the Ghetto During the Holocaust, Eric J. Sterling, editor, Syracuse University Press, pp. 70-83, 2005.
Researched and drafted chapter on Local Government in The Untapped Power of the Press by Lewis W. Wolfson, Praeger Publishers, pp. 153-160, 1985.
Books, edited
From the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to Holocaust Denial Trials: Challenging the Media, Law and the Academy, co-editors Gerald Herman, Debra Kaufman, David Phillips and James R. Ross, Vallentine Mitchell, 131 pages, 2007.
Selected Magazine Articles
“China’s Search for the Secrets of Jewish Success,” Tablet Magazine, January 2016.
“Learning About China’s Changes While Teaching Journalism,” Nieman Reports, Fall 2009.
“Tradition, Mashadi Style,” Hadassah Magazine, January 2003, pp. 12-17.
“From the Field: An Old Faith’s Tender Growth,” Northeastern University magazine, May 2001, pp. 12-13.
Report on suspicious deaths of two journalists in Ukraine in “Attacks on the Press 1997,” Committee to Protect Journalists.
“Inaugurating a New Era,” Northeastern University magazine, March 1997, pp. 18-30.
“Ecuador’s Timid Press.” Nieman Reports, Fall 1995, pp. 61-62.
"Pomp and Populism," Northeastern University Magazine, July 1993, special insert.
"Resources: When Trades Lead the Pack," Columbia Journalism Review, November/December 1990, p.18.
"Saying No to Drug Testing," Washington Journalism Review, January/February 1989, p. 18.
"ABC, Circulation Watchdog: Sometimes It Doesn't Bark," Washington Journalism Review, April 1988, pp. 14-15.
“Spiked in Hartford," Washington Journalism Review, November 1987, pp. 36- 37.
"Mission to Shanghai," Washington Journalism Review, February 1986, pp. 42- 44.
"A Medium Without a Message?" Pittsburgh Magazine, May 1984, pp. 52-61.
"A Case of the VDTs," Washington Journalism Review, July/August 1983, p. 11.
"CBS in the Crossfire," Washington Journalism Review, September 1982, p. 10.
"The Turnstile Journalists: Sawyer, Moyers, Safire and People Like Them," (chief author, with three others), The Quill, July/August 1982, pp. 16-21.
"The Hartford Courant: A Mirror of the Times?" Washington Journalism Review, April 1982, pp. 14-15.
“The Duke and Duchess of Discount," Hartford Courant Sunday magazine, September 7, 1980, pp. 4-7.
Reviews
Jews and the New American Scene, Religious Studies Review, Summer 1997.
Reporting in Depth, by Hiley H. Ward, Journalism Educator, Fall, 1991, p. 72.
Interviewing: Principles and Practices, Newspaper Research Journal, Spring 1983, pp. 65-66.
“ Selected Newspaper Articles
"Going Off the Beaten Track and Touring Spain by Auto," Philadelphia Inquirer, October 21, 1984, p. 12-T.
"Helen Caldicott's Doomsday Warning," Hartford Advocate, April 22, 1981, pp. 6, 12-13.
"Can the Swami Keep You Healthy?" Hartford Advocate, February 11, 1981, pp. 6, 14-16.
June to November 1980: Five articles in the Boston Globe on Connecticut, including a front-page commentary on Connecticut's search for an identity.
May 1972 to January 1980: Hundreds of articles in the Hartford Courant, including investigations of real estate blockbusting in the Hartford suburbs, mismanagement by a city redevelopment agency and the private dealings of a top state consumer protection official who tried to swindle home buyers.
March 1971 to April 1972: Dozens of stories in the New York Times about Yale University, including a feature on innovative admissions policies and spot news coverage of student protests.
June to August 1971: Dozens of news and feature articles in the Washington Star, including a feature on problems with housing for the elderly in the District of Columbia and spot news coverage of a flood threat to Laurel, Md.
HONORS AND AWARDS
External grants
Selected as Fulbright lecturer, Nanjing University College of Journalism & Communication, Fall 2008-09
Selected to attend “Brandeis in the Berkshires” workshop sponsored by Brandeis Israel Studies Program, Summer 2009
Awarded $50,000 grant from U.S.Institute of Peace and $17,000 in cost sharing from Office of the Provost to conduct three-week training seminar for ten Israeli and Palestinian journalists and journalism students to promote balanced reporting on the Israeli and Arab world. Held January-February 2005 at Warren Conference Center, Ashland, Ma.
Selected to attend one-week seminar on new media technologies for college journalism educators, travel and housing funded by the Poynter Institute, St. Petersburg, Fla., April 2001.
Selected as consultant for Pro-Media Ukraine, IREX (federal international research and exchange program) to consult on journalism curriculum at Ukrainian universities, lecture in Kiev, and host Ukrainian journalism professors in visit to Northeastern, March-December 1997.
Selected as J. William Fulbright lecturer for July-November 1994 to teach seminars in journalism to reporters, editors and producers in Ecuador.
Selected for $4,000 grant from Gannett Freedom Forum for Escape to Shanghai, January, 1992.
Awarded $18,000 grant from John Ben Snow Foundation to help train journalism teachers at Boston Technical High School (now O'Bryant High School), June 1991.
Selected to attend C-Span seminar for college professors on using cable television in the classroom, Washington, D.C., Summer 1989.
Internal grants
Awarded $7,500 Enhance grant from Office of the Provost, Northeastern University, for research on “The Image of Jews in Contemporary China,” 2008-09.
Named Stotsky Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies beginning July 2002.
Awarded $10,000 Research, Scholarship and Development Fund award from Northeastern University, Office of the Provost,for travel and research expenses for Fragile Branches, 1999-2000.
Awarded $3,000 Instructional Development Fund grant from Northeastern University, Office of the Provost, to develop and team teach new course combining curricula in moral philosophy and journalism ethics, 1996-97.
Awarded $9,000 grant through Northeastern University's bursar's office for program with John O'Bryant High School, covering tuition for three minority high school juniors interested in careers in journalism who took courses for college credit at Northeastern in spring 1993.
Awarded $6,000 Research and Scholarship Development Fund grant for Escape to Shanghai, May, 1991.
Awarded Faculty Research Grant, University of Connecticut Research Foundation, for Caught in a Tornado (under working title The Soft Knife), Spring 1987.
Awarded Faculty of Arts and Sciences research grant, University of Pittsburgh, for Caught in a Tornado, Spring 1986.
Awarded travel grants, University of Pittsburgh Contemporary China Program, for teaching and research in Shanghai, China, Summer 1985 and 1986.
Awarded Office of Faculty Development grant, University of Pittsburgh, for video production, "How Pittsburgh Media Report the News," Spring 1985.
PRESENTATIONS AND MEDIA APPEARANCES
May 2011 Speaker on “Interesting Times: Living and Teaching in China,” Lifetime Learning, Newton Community Education
April 2011 Discussant, “Migrant Experiences: Jewish Communities in and from South and Southeast Asia,” Association for Asian Studies, Honolulu, Hawaii
Feb. 2011 Panelist on Media Diplomacy, Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations convention
Dec. 2010 Organized and chaired panel on “Jewish Studies Around the Globe” at annual convention of the Association for Jewish Studies in Boston
Fall 2010 Speaker at Shir Tikvah synagogue, Northeastern Hillel, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Brandeis University and elsewhere on “Image of Jews in Today’s China”
August 2010 Quoted in The Jewish Week about modern Jewish diaspora
April 2009 Moderator and speaker at Combined Jewish Philanthropies event on unusual Jewish communities, Boston Public Library
Nov/Dec 2009 Invited lectures on “The Image of Jews in Contemporary China,” Boston chapter of Anti-Defamation League, Nov. 19, 2009 and Lexington senior citizen’s group
Nov. 2009 Introduced “Fiddler on the Roof” to Northeastern alumni prior to performance at Boston Opera House
Jan. 2005 Quoted in The Jewish Advocate on seminar for Israeli and Palestinian journalists
Sept. 2004 Guest on O’Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel. Discussed Dan Rather and CBS News reports on President Bush’s National Guard service.
2000-04 Keynote speaker at October 2004 at reunion of Jewish refugees who spent the war years in Shanghai. Lecturer at synagogues in Georgetown, Ct., Acton, Chelmsford and Natick, Ma. Featured speaker at New Haven Jewish Community Center annual book fair. Kickoff speaker for annual lecture series at Atlanta Jewish community center. Scholar in residence at Temple Sinai in Denver. Guest lecturer in Jewish Studies at University of Alabama.
August 2001 Guest on The O’Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel. Discussed ethical Issues related to coverage of Congressman Gary Condit.
May 2001 Co-organizer and sponsor for international conference, “From the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to Holocaust Denial Trials,” Northeastern University
Fall 2000- Spring 2001 Interviewed on "Jewish Perspective," WHDH-TV, "The World" (Public Radio International), and on North Carolina Public Radio; and in The Jewish Week and numerous other publications about Fragile Branches
Nov. 2000 Quoted in Jewish Journal on media coverage of the Middle East
Aug. 2000 Appeared on “Greater Boston” on WGBH-TV and quoted in the Boston Globe on unanticipated over enrollments at Northeastern
Fall 1998 Interviewed on “The Connection” with Christopher Lydon about media mergers
August 1998 Interviewed on WCVB-TV, local ABC affiliate, and quoted in USA Today on suspension of Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle
June 1998 Interviewed in WCVB on firing of Boston Globe columnist Patricia Smith
1994-95 Interviewed on WGN Radio and National Public Radio in Chicago, Wisconsin public radio, the Ruth Jacobs show in New York, “Jewish Perspective” on WHDH-TV and numerous newspapers about Escape to Shanghai. Invited speaker at Boston Public Library and numerous temple and synagogue groups in the Boston area and throughout country.
May 1993 Served as panelist for conference on journalism ethics, New England Newspaper Association
Dec.1992 Panelist for mock press conference on media-business relations, Harvard Business School.