Nicholas Hirshon

A former New York City journalist, Dr. Nicholas Hirshon is an assistant professor of communication at William Paterson University in New Jersey. He holds a Bachelor’s in journalism from St. John’s University (2006), a Master’s in journalism from Columbia University (2008), and a doctorate in mass communication from Ohio University (2016).

Hirshon was previously a reporter at the New York Daily News (2005-2011), where he amassed more than 1,000 bylines covering a mixture of breaking and community news. He also wrote three series that sparked efforts to save historic sites such as the former home of baseball player Jackie Robinson and the longest continuously operated movie theater in the United States. In 2010, Hirshon received an award from a prominent historic preservation group, the Historic Districts Council, for his coverage of forgotten sites in the borough of Queens. He has also freelanced for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Hockey News.

Hirshon has written two books, Images of America: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (2010), on the Long Island arena known for hosting the NHL’s New York Islanders, and Images of America: Forest Hills (2013), about the New York City neighborhood that hosted the U.S. Open tennis tournament for six decades. He has been interviewed about his books by the CBS television affiliate in New York City and the radio station that airs Islanders games.

Hirshon has published in peer-reviewed journals such as Journalism History, the International Journal of Sport Communication, and Case Studies in Sport Management. His research has also been recognized with awards and honors at several academic conferences. In 2015, his paper on New York City Mayor John Lindsay’s groundbreaking association with the 1969 New York Mets received the Outstanding Student Paper Award from the American Journalism Historians Association.

Before joining the faculty at William Paterson, Hirshon taught journalism at Ohio University (2013-2016), St. John’s University (2010-2013), and LaGuardia Community College in the City University of New York (2009-2013). Hirshon has received several major awards for his teaching, including an AEJMC Promising Professors Award in 2014. In 2015, his Ohio University students nominated him for a Graduate Associate Outstanding Teaching Award, and he became the first journalism instructor to win the award in eight years. He is currently the faculty adviser for the William Paterson student newspaper, the Pioneer Times.