Alumni Award for Distinguished Postgraduate Achievement
Alumni Award for Distinguished Postgraduate Achievement
The Alumni Award for Distinguished Postgraduate Achievement is a high honor and is reserved for those individuals whose contributions have made a profound difference in their communities. The 2026 honorees have been selected by the committee, reviewed by Interim President Wayne A. I. Frederick, M.D., MBA, and approved by the Board of Trustees. They will be formally recognized during the 2026 Charter Day Dinner.
Dr. Jelani Cobb
Dr. Jelani Cobb ('94, B.A.) joined the Columbia Journalism School faculty in 2016 and became Dean in 2022. He has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2015. He received a Peabody Award for his 2020 PBS Frontline film Whose Vote Counts? and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary in 2018. He has also been a political analyst for MS NOW since 2019.
Read his full bioHerbert B. Dixon, Jr.
Judge Herbert B. Dixon, Jr. ('70, BSEE), is a senior judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was appointed to successive 15-year terms on the court - first by President Ronald Reagan and subsequently by President William Clinton. Upon the announcement of Judge Dixon’s retirement and assumption of senior judge status, the Legal Times/National Law Journal referred to him as the “Technology Judge.”
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Kamilah Forbes
Kamilah Forbes ('98, BFA) is the Executive Producer of The Apollo in addition to her work as an esteemed award- winning director and producer for theater and television. Ms. Forbes is a powerful leader, widely known for her ability and commitment to continue to highlight the ideas, complexities, and work of artists in the hip-hop community and beyond. She has received awards for both directing and producing, including the 2019 NBTF Larry Leon Hamlin Producer Award and an NAACP Image Award.
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Dr. James K. Fortson
Dr. James K. Fortson ('72, B.S.) is board certified in Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery and served as Chief Executive Officer of ENT Associates of South Atlanta for more than twenty years, providing care to patients throughout the Atlanta area. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Otolaryngology, a Fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, member of the American Triological Society, and Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He is also a Certified Physician Executive.
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