Kate Zernike (born December 8, 1968, in Stamford, Connecticut) is a national correspondent for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', where she has been since April 2000, covering education, criminal justice, Congress, and national elections, and where she covered Hurricane Katrina. She was previously a reporter at ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' (1995-2000), where she was responsible for covering education and special projects. She is the author of ''Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America'' (2010), on the

Tea Party movement The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget defi ...

. Marjorie Kehe of ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

'' remarked in 2010 that it was likely that "no other journalist in the United States has devoted as much time to covering the tea party movement".

Early life and education

Zernike was born in Stamford, Connecticut, the daughter of Barbara (née Backus) and Frits Zernike Jr.New York Times Weddings: Kate Zernike and Jonathan Schwartz"
September 25, 2005Hartford Courant: "Obituary ZERNIKE, Frits"
July 18, 2011 Her father was a physicist who emigrated from Groningen, the Netherlands in 1956; and her mother owned the St. Clair Ice Cream Company in

South Norwalk, Connecticut South Norwalk is a neighborhood in Norwalk, Connecticut which corresponds to the city's Second Taxing District. Often referred to as SoNo, the neighborhood was originally settled as Old Well, then chartered as the city of South Norwalk on Augus ...

. Her paternal grandfather,

Frits Zernike Frits Zernike (; 16 July 1888 – 10 March 1966) was a Dutch physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1953 for his invention of the phase-contrast microscope. Early life and education Frits Zernike was born on 16 July 1888 in Am ...

, was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

physicist who received the

Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...

in 1953. She has two brothers, Frits Zernike III and Harry Zernike. Zernike is a graduate of the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

, where she obtained her B.A. in history and English in 1990. She later graduated from the

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...

, receiving a master's in journalism in 1992.

Career

Zernike began her career in journalism at ''

The Patriot Ledger ''The Patriot Ledger'' is a daily newspaper in Quincy, Massachusetts, that serves the South Shore. It publishes Monday through Saturday. Known for its thorough news coverage of the 26 communities south of Boston, ''The Patriot Ledger'' has won ...

'' in Quincy, Massachusetts, where she worked from 1992 to 1995. She then worked as a reporter at The Boston Globe from 1995 to 2000, where she was responsible for covering education and special projects. Zernike became a national correspondent for ''

'' in April 2000, where she covers education, criminal justice, Congress, and national elections, and where she covered Hurricane Katrina. She has also taught as an adjunct professor at the

Honors and awards

Zernike was a member of the ''New York Times'' team which shared the 2002

Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting has been presented since 1998, for a distinguished example of explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear p ...

, which was for reporting on global terrorism and its networks. She also won the Education Writers Association prize for news feature reporting in 2000, and the Benjamin Fine Award in 1995.

Works

*''Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America'', New York:

Times Books Times Books (previously the New York Times Book Company) is a publishing imprint owned by the New York Times Company and licensed to Henry Holt and Company. Times Books began as the New York Times Book Company in 1969, when The New York Times Com ...

( *

Personal

In 2005, she married Dr. Jonathan D. Schwartz in a ceremony presided over by a leader from the

New York Society for Ethical Culture The Ethical movement, also referred to as the Ethical Culture movement, Ethical Humanism or simply Ethical Culture, is an ethical, educational, and religion, religious movement that is usually traced back to Felix Adler (professor), Felix Adler ...

. Zernike lives in Montclair, NJ with her family. She has two sons with her husband, Frits and Nicolaas Schwartz.

References

External links

Articles at The New York Times

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zernike, Kate Living people The New York Times writers The Boston Globe people Writers from Connecticut University of Toronto alumni Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni American people of Dutch descent 1968 births