Profile

Joanne C. Gerstner

Sports Journalist in Residence

Bio

Joanne C. Gerstner is an award-winning multi-platform sports journalist, with her work appearing in the New York Times, USA Today, ESPN.com, Detroit News, Cincinnati Enquirer, PGA Magazine, and other outlets. She was awarded a prestigious Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan, focusing her studies on sports and concussions during 2012-13. She was named as the first sports journalist to receive a highly competitive Jacobs Foundation Fellowship to study neuroscience in Zurich, Switzerland in 2015. Gerstner, along with sports neurologist Dr. Jeff Kutcher, have authored a book on youth concussions and sports, aimed at coaches, athletes, and parents, and it will be released in 2016 by Oxford University Press. She has covered the biggest sporting events in the world in her career: the Olympics, women’s and men’s soccer World Cups, French and U.S. Open tennis championships, Ryder Cup, and numerous Stanley Cup, NBA, and NCAA playoffs and championships. She has been an NBA and Olympics beat writer, as well as a main features/takeout writer. She has taught classes and delivered guest lectures at Oakland University, Central Michigan University, University of Michigan, University of Detroit Mercy, Wayne State University, Northwestern University, and Penn State University. She is a frequent commentator and expert on sports and women’s media issues for global outlets, such as CNN, BBC, and NPR. Gerstner is the past president and chair of the board for the Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM). She is the inaugural 2014 AWSM Ann Miller Award recipient, for her contribution to the organization and advancing women in sports media. She is a graduate of Oakland University (B.A.) and the Medill School at Northwestern University (MSJ). She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, traveling, playing tennis, gardening, painting, cooking, and imagining she is in Maui during Michigan’s winters.