NEW YORK - Richard Lee Colvin, an award-winning education writer with the Los Angeles Times, this summer will become deputy director of the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media at Teachers College, Columbia University.

The Institute organizes and sponsors seminars for journalists with top policy makers and researchers on timely issues in education. The seminars are tailored to the interests of different groups of journalists, including editorial writers who write about education, education editors, reporters who specialize in higher education issues, and reporters new to the beat. The institute also commissions books and reports that background journalists in key education topics.

Gene I. Maeroff, the institute's founding director, said Colvin's extensive experience covering issues such as literacy, math education, accountability and teacher professionalism at the local, state and national level is a valuable asset that will serve the institute well. "He's able to translate research into plain language, knows the players, and is respected by journalists and educators alike," Maeroff said, in announcing the appointment.

Colvin, 48, said the new position represents a unique opportunity to serve journalism as well as education. "I want to leverage what I've learned in my many years on the beat to benefit other reporters in their coverage of education," Colvin said. "At the same time, I'll continue to be a working journalist." Colvin said that in addition to his work with the institute he intends to remain active as a writer on education topics.

Before joining the Times in 1989 Colvin covered education for the Oakland Tribune and the Hayward Daily Review, in Hayward, California. He wrote about housing, gangs and development issues until 1994 when he joined the education team to cover statewide issues. He has been writing about national education issues since 1997.

Colvin was a Michigan Journalism Fellow during the 1999-2000 academic year. He also has been a Media Fellow at the Hoover Institute, Stanford University and has won numerous state and national education writing awards, including two in 1995 from the Education Writers Association.

He is a graduate of Oberlin College and has a M.A. in journalism from the University of Michigan. He is married to Melissa Payton, a former Los Angeles Times editor; they have two children, Laura, 12, and Timothy, 9.

Mr. Colvin is a proud graduate of Findlay high School, class of 1972. Colvin's parents, Robert and Laura Colvin, are still residents of Findlay, Ohio.

The Hechinger Institute is named in memory of Fred M. Hechinger, who was a reporter and editor at the New York Times, specializing in the coverage of education. It is supported by grants from many foundations including the Carnegie Corporation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and the New York Times Company Foundation.

Published Wednesday, Jun. 26, 2002