Education:
M.S., Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism - 1975 (Journalism)
B.A., Yale College - 1970 (History)
Areas of Expertise:
Howell's interest is multimedia reporting, using video and audio clips with written articles on websites. He has also written quite a bit of history and is currently working on a book about West Indian immigrants in early 1900s Brooklyn. In 2008 he won the First Place Award from the New York Association of Black Journalists, for an article on the first African American graduate (1884) of City College. He has written extensively about Mexican day laborers and Muslims from the Middle East.
Books and Publications
"The Brown Girl of Bed-Stuy's Brownstones." The Brooklyn Rail, December 2012-January 2013. The article explores the writings and significance to central Brooklyn of Paule Marshall '53, author of the classic coming-of-age novel Brown Girl, Brownstones. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2013
"Brooklyn's Congressional Battle Heats Up." The New York Amsterdam News. Article portrayed the contest between Hakeem Jeffries and Charles Barron as one of the most significant in the nation: a choice between polar-opposite black politicians in the age of Obama. April 19-25. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2012
"Saving the Soul of a Gentrifying Community: The Story of Monique Greenwood." The New York Amsterdam News, New York City's oldest black newspaper. The article is about Monique Greenwood as a Bedford Stuyvesant commercial property owner who insists that her entrepreneurial tenants live in the community. She is also known to forgive monthly rents of businesses going through rough patches. July 26-Aug. 1. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2012
"The New York TImes Gives a (Very Reluctant) Kudos to Al Jazeera." Columbia Journalism Review website. The article argued that The New York Times, in its article about the cholera epidemic in Haiti, did not give sufficient credit to the Arab news service Al Jazeera, which was otherwise praised in the international journalism community for its outstanding reporting on the epidemic. April 13. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2012
"The New York Times Goes to the Dogs." Columbia Journalism Review website. Article showed that the number of stories about dogs has increased substantially since Jill Abramson took over as editor-in-chief of the paper. Abramson is the author of The Puppy Diaries, about her deep love for dogs. The article went viral on journalism websites around the country. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2012
"The Tragedy of Charlie Rangel." The New York Daily News. Article ran two days before the June primary election in which Congressman Charles Rangel faced Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat. The article was based, in large part, on research I did showing Rangel in 2009 told a Congressional Committee that police in New York City did not make arrests for marijuana. Rangel said this at a time when police, in fact, were making $50,000 arrests annually for pot possession. June 24. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2012
"Towns Withdraws: The End of an Era." Our Time Press, a central Brooklyn weekly newspaper. Article called Bedford Stuyvesant the "Ohio" of the Congressional race that was receiving significant media attention at the time, between Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and Councilman Charles Barron, to replace retiring Congressman Ed Towns. April 19-25. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2012
"What the Jesuits Taught JoePa." The New York Daily News. Article reflected on the now-shuttered Brooklyn Preparatory High School -- the alma mater of college football legend Joe Paterno, and my alma mater as well. The article drew dozens of e-mails and phone calls in response. Jan 25. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2012
"Why Jeffries Will Defeat Barron Handily." Bed-Stuy Patch, a website affiliated with AOL. Multimedia interview with Andra Gillespie, associate professor of political science at Emory University and author of the recent book The New Black Politician: Cory Booker, Newark, and Post-Racial America. New York University Press. May 13. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2012
"Before Their Time." Yale Alumni Magazine. Article showed that alumni of color from 1960s classes were dying at a much higher rate than white alumni. There was an immediate and continuing reaction to the article, including published comments from former Democratic Presidential candidate Howard Dean and from Howard S. Friedman, author of The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life From the Landmark Eight-Decade Study. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2011
"Yale Grad: My Classmates Are Dying." The Root, a website affiliated with The Washington Post. It was written at the request of the top editor at The Root and used some of the data from the Yale Alumni Magazine article about mortality rates of black students from the 1960s, but the article was otherwise original in style. It included details about a black Yale grad from New Jersey who had been cultivating marijuana and was murdered in summer 2011. June 14. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2011
Wrote several articles in The Amsterdam News and Our Times Press denouncing the city police department's stop-and-frisk policy that appeared to single out black and Latino young men. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2011
One Hundred Jobs: A Panorama of Work in the American City. The New Press. Cover notes by Howard Zinn, praising the book. (Books and Publications: Book) 2000
Professional Leadership
For two years have been the editor of Faculty Newsletter, which every semester publishes lists of achievements by faculty members as well as feature articles by and about faculty members. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2012
Organized and moderated a panel featuring Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who came to Brooklyn College on Oct. 25 and answered questions from students about the state of American politics, stop and frisk, student indebtedness and other topics. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2012
Sponsored a Black History Month lecture by Dr. Khalil Muhammad, the new director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and author of the book Condemnation of Blackness. Muhammad offered a historical background for the stop-and-frisk policy of the New York City Police Department. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2012
Sponsored a standing-room-only panel at Brooklyn College on the city's stop-and-frisk policy, featuring Queens College sociologist Harry Levine, as well as City Councilmen Dan Halloran and Jumaane Williams. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2011
Appeared on a CUNY-TV program, "Independent Sources," reporting on the economic woes of Johnson Publishing Company, which publishes Ebony and Jet magazines. (Between 1978 and 1980, I was the New York editor of Ebony.) (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
Did volunteer reporting and editing for the New York-based Haitian Times weekly newspaper, following the January earthquake that killed a quarter million people in Haiti. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
Moderated a panel of journalists at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism following the Haiti earthquake. The panel included reporters from The New York Times, The Haitian Times and ABC News. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
Published numerous articles and videos for the website BrooklynRon. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
Pedagogical Achievements
Lead faculty member in "Journalsim Without Walls," a joint project with Stony Brook University. Created a winter-session course involving readings about Cuba and discussions with foreign policy experts. Led 10 students on an eight-day trip to Cuba, and we produced a website with more than a dozen articles and videos. One student article (about Cuban baseball) was published in the Detroit Free Press. 2012
