Norman Lear, the longtime television producer behind some of TV’s most culturally transformative shows, such as All in the Family and The Jeffersons, was presented with the 2018 Rod Serling Award for Advancing Social Justice through Popular Media. The award was presented to Lear by his colleague, Mike Royce ’86, co-developer on the One Day at a Time reboot. 

Many of Lear’s shows from the 1970s, including Maude, Good Times, and Sanford and Son, examined society’s social and cultural issues. In 1980, Lear founded People for the American Way with the late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. The organization fights right-wing extremism and defends constitutional values under attack, including free expression, religious liberty, equal justice under the law, and the right to meaningfully participate in our democracy. 

The Serling award, named after Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling, who taught at the college from 1967 to 1975, is given to contemporary media industry professionals whose work highlights prejudice, inequality, and evolving social norms.