Josh Meltzer

Background

About Josh Meltzer

Josh Meltzer joined the faculty in the School of Photographic Arts & Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology in 2015 and is now an Associate Professor where he teaches photojournalism and multimedia storytelling. In 2020, Josh was awarded the Robin F. Garland Educator Award from the National Press Photographers Association for his strong dedication to his students and his commitment to community.Before coming to RIT, he taught photojournalism at Western Kentucky University. A native of Athens, Georgia, Josh is a 1995 graduate of Carleton College in Minnesota and received his Masters in Multimedia Communications from the University of Miami in 2013.In 2008, after 9 years as a staff photographer and multimedia journalist at The Roanoke Times in Roanoke, Virginia, Josh left the newspaper after accepting a Fulbright Scholarship to photograph and teach in Guadalajara, Mexico where he began working on a project about the migration of indigenous families within Mexico. A selection of his work from his Fulbright year won the Grand Prize Professional Award from Photophilanthropy (now Catchlight) in 2010. He completed this project in 2014 as part of his Master’s Thesis at the University of Miami.He has been a co-coordinator and instructor with the Truth With A Camera workshops in Mexico, Ecuador and Bosnia, and served for several years on the staff of The Mountain Workshops and NPPA’s Multimedia Immersion.His still and multimedia work has been recognized by the National Press Photographers Association’s (NPPA) Best of Photojournalism competition, where he was the 2006 Photojournalist of the Year for markets less than circulation, Pictures of the Year International, which recognized a long-term project on those who care for the elderly with the Documentary of the Year award, KNPA, VNPA, Atlanta Photojournalism Competition, Northern and Southern Short Courses and the Society of Newspaper Design. He is also a recipient of the NPPA’s Humanitarian Award in 2012 and is a 2013 recipient of the Carnegie Hero Award.