Ron Grossman is a staff reporter for the Chicago Tribune, covering the city's ethnic neighborhoods, among other subjects.
Before turning to journalism 20 years ago, he was a professor of history at Lake Forest College, Michigan State University and the University of Nebraska. His stories and “think” pieces have carried datelines from such places as Milan, Italy and the Mani region of Greece.
Mr. Grossman has also covered issues on higher education and has interviewed intellectual luminaries such as Arthur Miller and Joseph Heller. In his writing Mr. Grossman has also thoroughly explored the “culture wars” that have roiled on American college campuses during the last twenty years.
His 1982 map of ethnic groups in Chicago was widely adopted by universities and government agencies and remains the definitive survey of the city's neighborhoods. Recently, Mr. Grossman also published a book entitled, "Guide to Chicago Neighborhoods."
Mr. Grossman received a B.A. and PhD in history from the University of Chicago, where his main areas of concentration were classical and medieval history. Prior to this, he studied architecture with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Mr. Grossman grew up in Albany Park on Chicago’s Northwest side, an area he describes as an “ethnic polyglot of Jews, Germans, Italians Greeks and Irish,” and has served as the inspiration for his work.
