Instructor Biographies

You'll spend the next seven weeks chasing stories, and interviewing sources. You'll learn how to hold a camera correctly, and the difference between there and their. You'll understand how something as simple as spelling a name correctly marks you as a professional. And, at the end of it all, you'll experience the thrill of seeing your work in print or on video. Your instructors bring a wealth of experience to this program, and we intend to use everything we know to help you succeed. We are:

Gregory B. Richards, workshop director
Gregory B. Richards first encountered journalism while a high school student in Pittsburgh. He attended a Saturday program, similar to this one, that was sponsored by the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation. After graduating from Hampton University in 1991, Richards became editor in chief of a weekly newspaper. He worked there for 18 months, then worked as a sports reporter and page designer at the Naples Daily News in Naples, Fla. Three-and-a half years later, he moved to the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville. He came to the Plain Dealer in 1998, where he is a sports copy editor.

Margaret Bernstein, print director
Plain Dealer feature writer, Margaret Bernstein, is a main organizer for the Urban Journalism Workshop. She is a Los Angeles native and earned her bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Southern California. As a metro columnist for the Plain Dealer, she won the 1992 first-place column award from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists. In 2000, she was named the National Big Sister of the Year in 2000 for her work with two Cleveland girls, Cora and Ernestine. Margaret is the author of "The Bond," the next book to be released by "The Three Doctors" Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt and George Jenkins. The book is scheduled to be published in September by Riverhead Publishing, a division of Penguin Books.


Afi Scruggs, blog coordinator
Afi Scruggs believes that the modern journalist needs to have both primary and secondary skills. She is first and foremost a writer who has 20 years experience as a reporter, and is the author of three books. But she is passionate about the possibilities of online journalism and multi-media storytelling.
Afi is responsible for story posting, comment moderation, and general maintenance of the UJW blog. Her most recent blog,afiinitaly.blogspot.com, chronicles eight weeks she spent teaching journalism in Italy last summer.

Sandy Scott, television broadcast director
Sandy Scott brings 25 years of television experience into the UJW classroom. She began her career at WEWS NewsChannel 5 in 1981, where she worked her way up from videotape editor to supervising the "Live on Five" Show. Her career includes stints at WJW Fox 8, where she won an Emmy in 1991 for the series “The State of Black Cleveland,” and WKYC Channel 3, where she presently works as the weekend assignment desk editor.
Scott is currently a board of governor on the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Lower Great Lakes Chapter and is also the local chapter president of the Cleveland National Association of Black Journalists. She graduated from Cleveland State University in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications.