Martin Snyder Honored with New Award

The AAUP is pleased to announce the creation of the Martin D. Snyder Award for Excellence in Student Coverage of Higher Education. Marissa Ditkowsky won the 2014 award for “Cuts Affect Doctoral Programs,” an article in the Brandeis University Justice. 

The award is named for Martin Snyder, who served as the director of the AAUP’s Department of External Relations and, before that, as program director for academic freedom and professional standards. In June 2011, the AAUP Council appointed Snyder senior associate general secretary with responsibilities for managing the day-to-day operations of the national office, and he served in that capacity until his retirement in December 2013. Snyder was a strong advocate of student journalism, making this award a suitable way to honor his service to the AAUP. 

Snyder came to the AAUP after a varied career in higher education. He earned a PhD from the Catholic University of America, taught in Germany on a Fulbright Fellowship, and served as a professor of classics at Duquesne University, as an administrative officer at Albertus Magnus College, and as president of Molloy College before joining the staff of the AAUP. During many of his fifteen years on the AAUP staff, Snyder also taught as an adjunct professor of classics. 

“Martin served the Association in so many capacities that we could have developed numerous awards to honor the role that he played in his years at AAUP,” said AAUP president Rudy Fichtenbaum. “Creating this award to honor excellence in student coverage of higher education is particularly appropriate. Those of us who worked closely with Martin know that he never stopped teaching because he loved working with students and that he cared deeply about our profession and how it was covered in the media.” 

Nominations for the Snyder Award can come from a student, editor, or faculty member. Learn more about the award..