Steven Isenberg

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Biographical Information

Steven L. Isenberg is the former Executive Director of the PEN American Center, the largest chapter of International PEN, the world’s oldest international literary and human rights organization. He has been a university overseer and media executive, and has held important posts in journalism, government, law, and academia. He was publisher of New York Newsday, The Stamford Advocate, Greenwich Time, and the Executive Vice President of The Los Angeles Times. He served since 2003 on the Board of Directors of the Committee to Protect the Journalists (CPJ) and became an advisory board member in February 2008.

"Isenberg is now Chairman of the Board Emeritus of Adelphi University on Long Island, New York, where he was initially appointed by the New York State Regents as interim chair of a new Board and was later elected as chairman and President ad interim.

"He taught for several years at the University of Texas at Austin as a visiting professor of the humanities in the liberal arts honors program; at the University of California-Berkeley as a visiting professor of English and journalism; visiting lecturer at Yale; the James K. Batten Professor of Public Policy at Davidson College; and visiting scholar in media studies at The New School University and Polytechnic in New York. He is also an honorary Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford University, England, and holds an Honorary Doctorate from Adelphi University. Prior to working in newspapers, Isenberg had been chief of staff to New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay and a litigator at the firm of Breed, Abbott and Morgan. He served as president of the executive advisory board of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of California at Berkeley.

"Isenberg obtained his undergraduate degree in English Literature from the University of California at Berkeley in 1962; a second bachelor's degree and a master's degree (also in English Literature) from Worcester College, Oxford University, England, in 1966; and a JD from Yale Law School in 1975."