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Kevin Lerner is Professor and Chair of the Department of Journalism and Sports Media. He is a historian of American journalism and a scholar of press criticism. His research focuses on the intellectual history of journalism, through press criticism, satire, and magazines. He is the author of the book Provoking the Press: (MORE) Magazine and the Crisis of Confidence in American Journalism (2019, University of Missouri Press) and editor of Insights on Literary Journalism (2025, Routledge).

He is currently at work on a book about independent journalism through the lens of three journalists who left the New York Times.

He serves as Second Vice President and Corresponding Secretary for the International Association for Literary Journalism studies, and is a past head of the Magazine Media Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. He edited the Journal of Magazine Media from 2016–2021.

Lerner has judged the National Magazine Awards, the ASME Next Awards, and the Columbia Scholastic Press Awards. He earned his Ph.D. from Rutgers University, a master’s in journalism from Columbia University, and a B.A. in nonfiction writing from the University of Pennsylvania. He was the founding editor of the website for Architectural Record magazine—where he was part of a team that won the National Magazine Award—and has published journalism in The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York magazine, Slate, The Columbia Journalism Review, Boston Review, The Conversation, and The Nieman Lab.

Prior to coming to Montclair State, Lerner taught in the Department of Communication at Marist College/University, where he also served as department chair. He has also taught at Seton Hall University and LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York.

Specialization

U.S. journalism history, press criticism, literary and alternative journalism

Office Hours

Fall

Tuesday

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Thursday

10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Links

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• Provoking the Press