Award-winning journalist Jack Ford is the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg’s 2018 Commencement speaker. The campus’ Commencement ceremony will be held Saturday, April 28, at 11 a.m. on Ridilla Field (inclement weather: Chambers Hall Gymnasium).
The winner of two Emmy Awards and a George Foster Peabody Award, Ford is currently a host of Metro Focus on PBS (WNET-NY) and most recently a CBS News correspondent for 60 Minutes Sports. He also is the co-founder and chief anchor of the digital network American Ed TV and is a consultant for the NCAA. His work in television journalism earned four National Cable Television Awards, an MCCJ National Headliner Award, and the March of Dimes FDR Award.
Ford’s television news career began in 1984 with WCBS-TV (New York). In 1991, he was an original anchor at the launch of Court TV, and appeared in Fred Friendly’s award-winning PBS Media and Society broadcasts, serving as moderator for That Delicate Balance II: The Bill of Rights.”
In 1994, he joined the NBC News as chief legal correspondent, reporting on major legal stories for NBC Nightly News, the Today Show, and Dateline. He also was the co-anchor for the Weekend Today Show and a substitute anchor for the Nightly News and Meet the Press. Ford joined ABC News in 1999 as an anchor/correspondent for 20/20, Good Morning America, and World News Tonight. He also hosted the ESPN Show, and The Sports Reporters II (2002-2003). He hosted a nationally syndicated morning show for CBS TV/ King World (2003-2004) before returning to Court TV (2005) as the host of Courtside. From 2009-2014, he served as a CBS News legal analyst.
Ford, a three-year starter on the Yale varsity football team as an undergraduate, continued to pursue his passion for the sport through his work as a college football game commentator for ESPN, the Yes Network, and the American Sports Network. He received the 1997 NCAA Silver Anniversary Award, which is presented to former outstanding college athletes who have achieved distinction in their professional lives. He also received Yale University’s highest athletic honor, the George H.W. Bush Lifetime of Leadership Award in 2009.
A graduate of the Fordham University School of Law, Ford spent three years as a prosecutor in New Jersey before entering private practice. He then transitioned to become a prominent trial lawyer and successfully handled such high profile cases as the Northeast’s first death penalty trial, one of the nation’s first corporate homicide trials, and the Wall Street insider trading scandal of the late 1980s.
Currently a visiting lecturer at Yale University, Ford also has served as an adjunct professor of Law at the Fordham University of Law and has taught at New York University, Monmouth University, and the University of Virginia. He recently served as a Lead Scholar for the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and frequently speaks at colleges and universities across the country.
Ford is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, “The Osiris Alliance” and “The Walls of Jericho.” His three appearances on the television quiz show Jeopardy helped to finance his legal education. In addition to his work as a journalist, Ford is a documentary producer, prominent trial attorney, author, and professor.
He is the recipient of five honorary degrees recognizing his professional accomplishments and his extensive public service work.
Founded in 1963, the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg is a publicly assisted, four-year, liberal arts college in southwestern Pennsylvania. Pitt-Greensburg offers 29 baccalaureate degree programs, including new majors in Nursing, Healthcare Management, Public Policy, and Education, as well as 24 minors and five certificate programs. With nearly 1,500 students, more than 10,000 alumni, and faculty and staff numbering 260, Pitt-Greensburg provides a vibrant, diverse community that is a dynamic model of a 21st century liberal arts education. As part of the University of Pittsburgh system, Pitt-Greensburg offers the resources of a world-renowned university combined with the individualized and immersive experiences of a small liberal arts college. Creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit permeate the campus and extend into its many collaborative projects with the Westmoreland County community.