Pulitzer Prize Winner John Fisher Burns to Receive
Honorary Doctorate of Letters at C.W. Post Commencement

Brookville, N.Y. – John F. Burns, the longest-serving New York Times foreign correspondent and the newspaper's London Bureau Chief, will be awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters at the 50th commencement ceremonies at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 11, 2008.

Burns has traveled the globe on assignment for more than three decades, covering stories that have changed the course of world history. He has witnessed China's Cultural Revolution; the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina; the chaos in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of Soviet troops; the rise and fall of the Taliban government; and the war in Iraq, and has provided readers with vivid, firsthand accounts of these and other significant world events.

Burns began his distinguished career as a reporter in Canada . After working summer jobs with the Ottawa Citizen and the Ottawa Journal, he landed a position with the Toronto Globe and Mail, first covering crime, education and local politics; then becoming the paper's chief parliamentary correspondent; and later moving to Beijing to cover mainland China.

In 1975, he joined The Times' metropolitan desk and has remained with the paper, serving in a variety of capacities including Islamic affairs correspondent; Beijing bureau chief, where he was incarcerated on suspicion of espionage by the Chinese government; chief foreign correspondent; and most recently, London bureau chief.

Repeatedly recognized for his work, Mr. Burns is the recipient of many honors including: two Pulitzer Prizes, one in 1993 for his coverage of the siege of Sarajevo and one in 1997 for his articles on the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan; two George Polk Awards, bestowed upon him by Long Island University, for foreign reporting; the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy's Edward R. Weintal Prize for diplomatic reporting; and the Committee to Protect Journalists' Burton Benjamin Memorial Award.

His reports have been featured on an array of American television programs, including PBS's “The Newshour with Jim Lehrer,” “The CBS Evening News” and the morning and evening news shows on ABC and NBC. He also has been a guest on CNN shows hosted by Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper.

Burns, who was born in Nottingham, England, was educated at Stowe School (England) and McGill University (Canada). He also studied Russian at Harvard University and Chinese at Cambridge University (England), and held a visiting fellowship at King's College, Cambridge, where he explored Islamic history and culture. In addition to Russian and Chinese, he speaks French and German.

Burns is married to Jane Scott-Long, who works in Baghdad as The Times' bureau manager for Iraq.

Commencement exercises will take place on the Great Lawn at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville, N.Y. beginning at 9:30 a.m. The Class of 2008 includes two associate's degrees, 1,022 baccalaureate degree candidates, 1,434 master's degree candidates, 15 graduates receiving the Psy.D. in clinical psychology and four receiving the Ph.D. in information studies. C.W. Post's commencement ceremonies also include graduates from Southampton College and Long Island University at Riverhead.

Posted: May 1, 2008