Commission Member
Gerald ‘Jerry’ Lanson
Jerry Lanson is a part-time writing consultant for Harvard Kennedy School. A professor emeritus from Emerson College, Lanson served as the first chair of that school’s Department of Journalism from 1999 to 2005 and taught students there for nearly 20 years.
Prior to arriving at Emerson, Lanson served on the full-time faculties of Syracuse University, Boston University and New York University, and worked as a newspaper editor, reporter, columnist and writing coach.
He is the author or co-author of four books on writing and editing and continues to write essays and opinion pieces from time to time.
In 1990, as the special beats editor at the San Jose Mercury News, he was part of the city desk staff awarded a Pulitzer Prize for coverage the prior year of the Loma Prieta earthquake.
Lanson’s teaching has been recognized with awards from Emerson College and the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla. He and his wife Kathy live in Falmouth, Mass., with their 17-year-old grand-daughter, Devon, a rising senior at Falmouth Academy.
Jerry Lanson is a part-time writing consultant for Harvard Kennedy School. A professor emeritus from Emerson College, Lanson served as the first chair of that school’s Department of Journalism from 1999 to 2005 and taught students there for nearly 20 years.
Prior to arriving at Emerson, Lanson served on the full-time faculties of Syracuse University, Boston University and New York University, and worked as a newspaper editor, reporter, columnist and writing coach.
He is the author or co-author of four books on writing and editing and continues to write essays and opinion pieces from time to time.
In 1990, as the special beats editor at the San Jose Mercury News, he was part of the city desk staff awarded a Pulitzer Prize for coverage the prior year of the Loma Prieta earthquake.
Lanson’s teaching has been recognized with awards from Emerson College and the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla. He and his wife Kathy live in Falmouth, Mass., with their 17-year-old grand-daughter, Devon, a rising senior at Falmouth Academy.