President Biden congratulates the New President of the National Press Club Washington DC.


Washington, DC, February 04, 2021 — President Joe Biden congratulated Lisa Nicole Matthews on becoming National Press Club president.
“I am confident you will lead with integrity, promote fact over fiction, and work tirelessly as part of the institution’s all-female leadership team, to keep The National Press Club strong and vibrant during these challenging times,” Biden wrote in his January 30 letter. “I am encouraged by your commitment to increasing the diversity and inclusiveness among members and, in turn, to help bring our fellow Americans closer together.”
Matthews, who received the letter just before being sworn into office on January 30, wrote the following response as a letter to Club Members:
“Greetings Fellow Members,
“I was about to give one of the most important speeches of my life last Saturday, as I addressed you at my Inauguration as 114th President of the National Press Club. Moments before, I received a letter from Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States of America. It’s not every day that you receive a letter from the President. It was a letter of congratulations. It was warm in its tone – just the kind of thing you might expect from President Biden. But for me, there was more to this letter than a friendly President to President congratulation.
“To hold a letter from the President offering congratulations to me and urging me on to great things at the institution of the Press Club was full of meaning for me.
“As for President Biden, we have a membership card with his name on it, and I look forward to the day when COVID has been defeated, and he can walk over to receive it so we can add his picture to the wall of presidents. He has our best wishes, as do all presidents. We wish him the best as we hold him to account. In this way, we both go forward, as do our country and our democracy.”
Legendary CBS News anchor Dan Rather swore in Lisa Matthews of the Associated Press as the 114th president of the National Press Club on January 30, 2020.
Founded in 1908, the National Press Club is the World’s Leading Professional Organization for Journalists™, with 3,000 members worldwide representing every leading news organization.
— Surender Hastir is a Member of The National Press Club since 2012.
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A University’s Global Reputation Matters!!

Author: Surender Hastir
Originally published on February 26, 2017, on Linkedin.
The recent Times Higher Education (THE) World Reputation Rankings see Harvard University securing the first spot for the sixth consecutive year. The other top four positions are taken up by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Cambridge, and the University of Oxford.
Launched in 2011, THE World Reputation Rankings offer a definitive list of the world’s most prestigious universities based on their global reputation.
The United States once again commands the rankings, owning 43 of the top 100 institutions. The United Kingdom comes second. Ten UK universities have made it to the top 100. The University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford take the fourth and fifth spots.
From Asia, there are 17 institutions included in the list, an increase of seven from ten last year. The University of Tokyo, Japan, stands at 12th place, while China’s Tsinghua University and Peking University are ranked 18th and 21st respectively.
According to the Times Higher Education rankings editor, Phil Baty, “Reputation is the global currency of higher education.”
University Reputation Rankings
World’s Most Prestigious Universities
Top 50
- Harvard University — United States
- Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology — United States
- Stanford University — United States
- University of Cambridge — United Kingdom
- University of Oxford — United Kingdom
- University of California, Berkeley — United States
- Princeton University — United States
- Yale University — United States
- Columbia University — United States
- California Institute of Technology — United States
- University of Chicago — United States
- University of Tokyo — Japan
- University of California, Los Angeles — United States
- University of Michigan — United States
- Imperial College, London — United Kingdom
- University of Pennsylvania — United States
- Cornell University — United States
- Tsinghua University — China
- ETH Zurich — Switzerland
- University College, London — United Kingdom
- Peking University — China
- Johns Hopkins University — United States
- University of Toronto — Canada
- London School of Economics and Political Science — United Kingdom
- New York University — United States
- National University of Singapore — Singapore
- Kyoto University — Japan
- Duke University — United States
- University of Washington — United States
- The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — United States
- Lomonosov Moscow State University — Russian Federation
- Northwestern University — United States
- Carnegie Mellon University — United States
- The University of Texas at Austin — United States
- University of Wisconsin-Madison — United States
- University of California, San Diego — United States
- University of British Columbia — Canada
- University of Edinburgh — United Kingdom
- McGill University — Canada
- Georgia Institute of Technology — United States
- LMU Munich — Germany
- University of California, San Francisco — United States
- King’s College, London — United Kingdom
- Pennsylvania State University — United States
- University of California, Davis — United States
- University of Hong Kong — Hong Kong
- Seoul National University — South Korea
- Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne — Switzerland
- University of Manchester — United Kingdom
- University of Melbourne — Australia
- University of Minnesota — United States
51-60
- Delft University of Technology — Netherlands
- Heidelberg University — Germany
- Humboldt University of Berlin — Germany
- Karolinska Institute — Sweden
- University of Maryland, College Park — United States
- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — United States
- Ohio State University — United States
- Osaka University — Japan
- Purdue University — United States
- Technical University of Munich — Germany
61-70
- University of Amsterdam — Netherlands
- Australian National University — Australia
- Ecole Normale Superieure — France
- KU Leuven — Belgium
- Michigan State University — United States
- University of Southern California — United States
- University of Sydney — Australia
- Tohoku University — Japan
- Washington University in St Louis — United States
71-80
- Boston University — United States
- Brown University — United States
- University of California, Santa Barbara — United States
- Chinese University of Hong Kong — Hong Kong
- Free University of Berlin — Germany
- Fudan University — China
- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology — Hong Kong
- University of Pittsburgh — United States
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University — China
- Texas A&M University — United States
81-90
- Indiana University, Bloomington — United States
- Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) — South Korea
- Leiden University — Netherlands
- London Business School — United Kingdom
- NanyangTechnological University — Singapore
- National Taiwan University — Taiwan
- Pierre and Marie Curie University — France
- RWTH Aachen University — Germany
- Saint Petersburg State University — Russian Federation
- Tokyo Institute of Technology — Japan
- University of Warwick — United Kingdom
- Zhejiang University — China
91-100
- Arizona State University — United States
- The University of Colorado, Boulder — United States
- Ecole Polytechnique — France
- Insead — France
- Lund University — Sweden
- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology — Russian Federation
- Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Paris 1 — France
- University of Sao Paulo — Brazil
- Utrecht University — Netherlands
- Wageningen University and Research Center — Netherlands
Reputation is distinct from Academic Performance
The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings list the world’s top 100 universities based purely on their Academic Prestige as distinct from their Academic Performance.
According to THE rankings editor, Phil Baty, “A university’s reputation for academic excellence is vital to its success.”
A university’s brand, crucial in helping to attract students, staff, and funding, is built on esteem.
Reputation and brand are not the same things. However, Pat Freeland-Small, chief marketing officer at the University of Melbourne, says the former feeds the latter.
According to him, “The world’s elite universities do not need to advertise themselves. However, in a way, they are advertising. They are continually demonstrating their high quality through their people and their work. It is their people, their research, and the impressions that come through their academic community that displays their international profile.”
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QS World University Rankings USA
The Best US Universities for Excellence, Equity, and Employability.
Author: Surender Hastir
Originally published on May 20, 2020.
LONDON, May 20, 2020 — QS Quacquarelli Symonds, publisher of the QS World University Rankings, released their inaugural ranking of America’s top universities.
The QS World University Rankings USA assesses how well universities are responding to the social, intellectual, and economic challenges of our time. QS has ranked the Universities according to their research performance and career outcomes as well as a range of indicators evaluating each institution’s social impact and attempts to foster equitability.
The methodology also evaluates universities based on the efforts they are making to support the 17 UN Sustainable Development goals.
QS CEO Nunzio Quacquarelli said, “QS surveyed 33,000+ prospective university students since the start of the pandemic. Though COVID-19’s effects on higher education will resonate for years to come, our research reveals that it does not deter students from pursuing their education goals. We hope that this ranking will provide students with an insightful comparative tool, as they prepare for the next steps in their educational journey.”
The QS World University Rankings USA see Harvard University named America’s top university, placing ahead of Stanford University (2nd) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (3rd).
Harvard’s leadership got perfect scores for QS’s Research and Employability indicators, which suggests that, on average, Harvard produces America’s most impactful research and most employable graduates.
Five American colleges achieve perfect scores for QS’s Learning Experience indicator: Yale University, Duke University, Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, and Brown University.
QS Research Director Ben Sowter said, “For thirty years, QS has served the global student community with the independent insights they need to make informed decisions. Our Employer Reputation indicator, a dataset based on the sentiments of over 44,000 hiring managers worldwide, allows potential applicants to assess US universities based on their ability to enhance their future careers, according to the most robust dataset available.”
Sowter continued, “As the global graduate jobs market becomes even more competitive, our research suggests that students are placing a greater emphasis on this information. With the pandemic further disrupting the graduate employment market, we predict that concern about education and employability will intensify.”
QS has named 300 institutions as the best four-year universities in the United States.
QS World University Rankings USA
- Harvard University
- Stanford University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- The University of California, Berkeley (UCB)
- Columbia University
- The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
- Yale University
- University of Pennsylvania
- Princeton University
- Cornell University
- New York University (NYU)
- University of Chicago
- Duke University
- Johns Hopkins University
- University of Southern California
- Northwestern University
- Carnegie Mellon University
- University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
- California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
- Brown University
- Boston University
- Rice University
- Georgetown University
- University of Washington
- The University of Texas at Austin
- The University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
- Emory University
- University of California, Davis
- Washington University in St. Louis
- University of Rochester
- Vanderbilt University
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- George Washington University
- Tufts University
- University of Florida
- Dartmouth College
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- University of Miami
- University of Notre Dame
- Rutgers University-New Brunswick
- University of California, Irvine
- Case Western Reserve University
- The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
- Stony Brook University, State University of New York
- University at Buffalo SUNY
- Pennsylvania State University
- Boston College
- University of Maryland, College Park
- University of Virginia
- Syracuse University
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Purdue University
- Northeastern University
- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
- Michigan State University
- Brandeis University
- The Ohio State University
- Drexel University
- University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Temple University
- North Carolina State University
- University of Colorado Boulder
- Lehigh University
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- The University of Hawaii at Mānoa
- Tulane University
- Howard University
- The University of Arizona
- University of Maryland, Baltimore County
- Binghamton University SUNY
- Illinois Institute of Technology
- University of Pittsburgh
- New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)
- The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
- University of the Pacific
- Texas A&M University
- University of Denver
- University of Massachusetts Boston
- William & Mary
- Florida State University
- San Diego State University
- University of Connecticut
- Virginia Commonwealth University
- Indiana University Bloomington
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute
- University of Houston
- University of San Francisco
- The University of Georgia
- University of Oklahoma
- Arizona State University
- Wake Forest University
- Southern Methodist University
- Andrews University
- University of California, Santa Cruz
- University of Oregon
- University of Texas Dallas
- Santa Clara University
- The University of Louisville – School of Public Health & Information Sciences
- George Mason University
101-110
- Rutgers University–Newark
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
- Loyola University of Chicago
- Oregon State University
- Stevens Institute of Technology
- University at Albany SUNY
- University of California, Riverside
- University of Iowa
- The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- University of Utah
111-120
- American University
- Clark University
- Clarkson University
- Florida International University
- Loyola Marymount University
- Pace University, New York
- Rochester Institute of Technology
- University of Delaware
- University of Nebraska – Lincoln
- Washington State University
121-130
- Baylor University
- DePaul University
- Loyola University Maryland
- St. John’s University: New York City
- Saint Louis University
- University of Colorado, Denver
- University of New Hampshire
- University of San Diego
- University of South Carolina
- University of Vermont
131-140
- Bentley University
- Clemson University
- Fordham University
- Iowa State University
- University of Central Florida
- University of Kentucky
- University of South Florida
- University of Tulsa
- Wayne State University
- West Virginia University
141-150
- California Lutheran University
- CUNY Queens College
- Fairfield University
- Georgia State University
- Michigan Technological University
- Pepperdine University
- Seattle University
- The University of Alabama
- University of Rhode Island
- University of Texas Arlington
- Villanova University
151-160
- New York Institute of Technology
- Nova Southeastern University
- Rowan University
- Rutgers University–Camden
- Texas Tech University
- University of Cincinnati
- University of New Mexico
- University of North Texas
- Yeshiva University
161-170
- Baruch College
- Brigham Young University
- California State University – Fullerton
- Marquette University
- San Jose State University
- Seton Hall University
- Suffolk University
- Texas Christian University
- University of Kansas
- University of Redlands
171-180
- Chapman University
- Dominican University of California
- Duquesne University
- Hofstra University
- Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis
- Kansas State University
- Missouri University of Science and Technology
- Portland State University
- San Francisco State University
- The University of Alabama at Birmingham
- University of Idaho
- University of Missouri, Columbia
- University of Missouri, Kansas City
- University of Nevada – Las Vegas
181-190
- Adelphi University
- Auburn University
- Ohio University
- Saint Mary’s College of California
- University of Hawaii
- University of Nevada
191-200
- California State University Northridge
- The Catholic University of America
- Colorado State University
- Creighton University
- CUNY Lehman College
- Northern Arizona University
- Seattle Pacific University
- St. Edward’s University
- University of Massachusetts
- University of Mississippi
- University of Wyoming
201-250
- Ball State University
- Butler University
- California Polytechnic State University
- California State University
- California State University – Los Angeles
- California State University Dominguez Hills
- California State University – San Bernardino
- Chaminade University of Honolulu
- CUNY Hunter College
- Dominican University
- Drake University
- East Carolina University
- Elon University
- Gonzaga University
- Hawaii Pacific University
- Ithaca College
- La Salle University
- Marymount University
- Mississippi State University
- New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
- Northern Illinois University
- Notre Dame of Maryland University
- Oklahoma State University
- Old Dominion University
- Rider University
- Rollins College
- Simmons University
- SUNY Oswego
- Stetson University
- The State University of New York at Fredonia
- The State University of New York at Geneseo
- SUNY Oneonta
- The College of New Jersey
- University of Alaska Fairbanks
- University of Bridgeport
- University of Dayton
- University of Hartford
- The University of Illinois, Springfield (UIS)
- University of Memphis
- The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
- University of St. Thomas – Houston
- The University of Texas at San Antonio
- University of Texas, El Paso
- University of the District of Columbia
- University of Toledo
- University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
- Western Michigan University
- Western Washington University
251-300
- Abilene Christian University
- Augustana University
- Boise State University
- Bradley University
- Bryant University
- California State Polytechnic University – Pomona
- California State University, Monterey Bay
- Calvin University
- Cedar Crest College
- Chatham University
- Chestnut Hill College
- Clark Atlanta University
- Cleveland State University
- CUNY The City College of New York
- Endicott College
- Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
- Gwynedd Mercy University
- Hampton University
- Immaculata University
- Iona College
- James Madison University
- Marist College
- Miami University
- Montana State University
- Nazareth College
- Oklahoma City University
- Quinnipiac University
- Regis University
- Roosevelt University
- Siena College
- Sonoma State University
- SUNY Brockport
- SUNY Cortland
- Texas State University
- Trinity University
- Truman State University
- University of Alaska Anchorage
- University of Arkansas Fayetteville
- University of Evansville
- University of La Verne
- University of Mary Washington
- University of Montana Missoula
- University of New Haven
- University of North Florida
- University of Portland
- University of St Thomas
- The University of Tampa
- University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire
- Valparaiso University
- Wagner College
- William Paterson University of New Jersey
- Woodbury University
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Washington’s National Press Club weathers Pandemic, Stays Engaged with its Members.
Author: Surender Hastir
Originally published on May 17, 2020.
Washington, DC, May 16, 2020— The National Press Club, Washington, DC, has remained vibrant and maintained full employment of its staff throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Club officials said. They were addressing the General Membership Meeting held on Wednesday, May 13.
• The Club conducted the Meeting through Online Video Conference.
Speaking to the Members, Club President Michael Freedman said the Club has been resilient in responding to the “head-spinning turn of events” caused by the pandemic. The Club did that by placing the top priority on the health and safety of its members and staff, keeping it financially viable, and providing both virtual and in-person member services, including helping those in need, Freedman added.
Freedman emphasized that the Club has suspended in-person activities but has not shut down over the eight weeks though the pandemic has forced governments across the country to issue stay-at-home orders.
“The National Press Club and the National Press Club Journalism Institute have remained open and actively engaged with our members and with our colleagues on the front lines around the world,” Freedman said.
Since mid-March, the Club has hosted Virtual Newsmakers with political leaders and medical experts and has remained active in promoting press freedom.
- American Nurses Association President, Dr. Ernest Grant, who called nurses “warriors without armor” in their fight against COVID-19, participated in a live fireside chat on Friday, May 15. Dr. Grant discussed the role of nurses in the global pandemic and “The International Year of the Nurse.”
- American Medical Association President, Patrice A. Harris, delivered a live national address on Tuesday, April 7, about the essential need for relying on science and data to protect public health, particularly in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The speech, delivered via Livestream as part of the National Press Club’s Virtual Newsmaker series, centered on the need for evidence-based solutions and policies to build societal trust and a common understanding.
- The 2020 baseball season began at the National Press Club on Tuesday, April 14, when members and guests had an opportunity to “play ball” with Washington Nationals radio broadcasters Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler.
- Pulitzer Prize winner and former New York Times photographer Stephen Crowley discussed how news photos could convey humanity, irony, and humor as well as news in an online presentation with National Press Club’s Photography Team.
- Edward Segal, a Member of the National Press Club and a Specialist in Crisis Management, has launched his new book, “Crisis Ahead: 101 Ways to Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals, and Other Emergencies.”
Meanwhile, the National Press Club Journalism Institute (NPCJI) has started a daily newsletter and writing group, sponsored several weekly programs, and has offered online library services since the Club suspended in-person activities. “The Institute is now serving hundreds of journalists daily, something we’ve never done before,” said Angela Greiling Keane, president of the NPCJI board of directors.
Founded in 1908, the National Press Club, “World’s Leading Professional Organization for Journalists,” represents more than 3,000 reporters, editors, and professional communicators worldwide. The Club hosts nearly 2,000 events per year in its 54,000 square foot facility located in downtown Washington just three blocks from the White House.
— The author (Surender Hastir) participated in the National Press Club Members Meeting. He is a Member of the Club since 2011.
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