The fall semester 2026 finds Hank Nuwer writing twice-monthly columns for the Cordova Times in Alaska, plus working as an adjunct professor at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He and wife Malgorzata (Gosia) Wroblewska-Nuwer reside in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Three members of Kurt Vonnegut’s kin–Kurt Lindener (husband of Aunt Irma Vonnegut Lindener), Uncle Rudolph Lieber, and Captain Erwin Herber–were registered Nazi Party members. Read an excerpt from Hank Nuwer-s Vonnegut biography-in-progress at Realalaskadaily.com.
“Gosiaandhank”
Hank Nuwer began keeping a database about hazing deaths in 1975 and maintains the Hazing Deaths database. The first shorter database appeared in his article (Dead Souls of Hell Week) for Human Behavior magazine in 1978. His investigation of hazing deaths appeared in 1990; the title was Broken Pledges: the Deadly Rite of Hazing.
Hank Nuwer founded and continues to update the Buffalo State University Hazing Collection with BSU archivist Daniel DiLandro. Video: Georgia Rep. Lucy McBath cites the names on Nuwer’s hazing database as a factor in Joe Biden’s decision to sign a federal hazing law in December of 2024.
The Hazing Prevention Network and Northeast Greek Association award annual “Hank Nuwer Awards” to honor individuals and groups doing an outstanding job to stand up despite hardship to educate schools and the public about hazing.
Hank Nuwer has an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Buffalo State University and is a 1999 Buffalo State Distinguished Alumnus. His papers are collected at the Buffalo State University Butler Library. He is in the Buffalo State Athletic Hall of Fame as a 1967 soccer team member/manager.
Note to the Reader: On June 11, 2025, Hank Nuwer’s Hazing Deaths Database Clearinghouse information also became accessible at HazingInfo.org, where you can access, interact with, and download data on all recorded hazing deaths from 1838 to the present. HazingInfo, the University of Maine, and researcher Hank Nuwer are pleased to announce the partnership that led to the HazingInfo website.
Hank Nuwer, speaking pro bono to parents of hazing victims
Awards:
In September 2024, because of his then-49 years working for hazing prevention and hazing education, he received one of the four recognitions by the Alaska Children’s Trust Champions for Kids.
The Alaska Press Club in 2024 and 2025 awarded him its first prize Best Columnist and, in 2024, second place Best Humorist award. He won third-place Best Profile in 2026.
The Ohio Society of Professional Journalists named him its Ohio #1 Columnist of 2021. He has also won Society of Professional Journalists. awards for column writing and business writing from the Indiana chapter. In 2025, his former Indiana-based column won first place for commentary from the Hoosier State Press Association.
His current book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press: a collaboration with experts on Greek life and athletics, student affairs and attorneys. IIt is a companion to his earlier “Hazing Reader” and “Wrongs of Passage.”
As a journalist on magazine stories, he played first base in professional baseball games for the Montreal Expos’ Denver Bears, the now defunct Indianapolis Clowns and the vintage baseball New York Mutuals (Cooperstown Hall of Fame vs. Ozzie Smith’s team of local athletes).
Theater and Fim Acting
Nuwer’s hobbies include stamp collecting, reading international authors, and acting in theater. He was trained at the Shakespeare Institute at the Univ. of Bridgeport. UB faculty members included actor Morris Carnovsky, scholar Alan Dorner and Michael Kahn.
He also performs one-man plays for hazing education titled “Death of a Rookie” and “A Broken Pledge.”
Hank Nuwer was elected to the Ball State Journalism Hall of Fame.
Hank Nuwer & Felipe Alou
Organizations
Memberships: Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society, Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society, Sons of the American Legion, Order of Omega Leadership Society, Western Writers of America, Western American Literature, Investigative Reporters and Editors, Society of Professional Journalists, Biographers International, and the Alaska Press Club.
Link to the Buffalo State Hank Nuwer Hazing Collection.
Nuwer’s journalism to eradicate hazing was honored with annual awards in his name by the NGLA and HazingPrevention.org