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Ted Greenberg, Liberal Studies

If you’ve tuned into evening news on NBC10 Philadelphia or NBC4 New York, chances are you’ve seen or heard a report from Ted Greenberg. As the longtime Jersey Shore Bureau reporter, Greenberg covers Atlantic, Cape May, Ocean and Monmouth counties with daily reports at 4, 5 and 6 p.m.

Greenberg frequents campus to cover stories like the groundbreaking of the Atlantic City Phase II, but his first visits to ������Ƶ were as a student in the early 1990s. The reporter first started working in media at WMGM-TV in Linwood right after graduating from high school.

“Since third grade, I knew I wanted to be a local news broadcast journalist,” Greenberg said. “Local news provides the opportunity and privilege to serve, provide critical information and develop important relationships within the same region that I call home.”

������Ƶ was an easy choice for him as he was able to work and attend school fulltime, originally as a Criminal Justice major. But it would be 30 years before he would cross that graduation stage, completing a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies.

“Six courses short of graduation, I left ������Ƶ in 1997 when I moved to Rochester, New York, for a new reporting job. I always hoped to finish my degree but kept putting it off as I continued to develop my career, got married and became a dad,” he said.  “The nature of online, asynchronous courses that I could complete during off-work hours allowed me to finally re-enroll in early 2021.”

A tragedy, health setback and the COVID-19 pandemic gave Greenberg the final push to reach the finish line. It was important for him to finish his degree, not just for self-fulfillment but to be a role model to his three daughters.

“I lost my mom to breast cancer in 2000 and learned I had colon cancer in 2020. That diagnosis came during the COVID-19 pandemic when our lives were already upended. Luckily, the cancer was found early and removed through surgery,” he said. “However, that experience, coupled with the pandemic, renewed my determination to finish my degree.”

With more than 30 years’ experience in the broadcast journalism world, this degree wasn’t totally necessary for his career, but the coursework and relationships he built at ������Ƶ have offered him valuable new perspectives. Coming back to academia after gaining life experiences also changed his view on the degree.

“When I returned to ������Ƶ in 2021, I immediately connected with the course content in different ways than I had in my late teens and early twenties. For example, as a reporter who usually has less than two minutes to explain news stories, it had been decades since I spent significant time on longer form academic projects and essays,” Greenberg said. “The courses and expert faculty provided the opportunity to utilize an academic approach to research. I also learned more about overseas cultures, the threat climate change poses to the Jersey Shore, and had an opportunity to closely examine the workings of the United Nations while digging deeper into the process of international affairs.”

And while Greenberg is finally done with his degree, he won’t be a stranger to ������Ƶ. “Although I will miss the educational aspect, I know I will remain connected to ������Ƶ as an alumnus because I often am on the Galloway and Atlantic City campuses for news stories and other events,” he said.