Hall of Fame: Joan Ganz Cooney

The Association of Educational Publishers

AEP Hall of Fame
Joan Ganz Cooney

Mrs. Joan Ganz Cooney
Co-Founder
Sesame Workshop
2004

Joan Ganz Cooney, co-founder in 1968 of Children's Television Workshop (renamed, Sesame Workshop June 2000) and originator of the preschool educational series, Sesame Street, served as President and Chief Executive Officer until 1990. She is currently Chairman of the Executive Committee of Sesame Workshop's Board.

Sesame Street, which began as an experiment, is the first preschool program to integrate education and entertainment as well as feature a multi-cultural cast. It has been broadcast daily since 1969 in the U.S. on the more than 300 stations of the Public Broadcasting Service and has been seen by millions of children in more than 140 foreign countries. Indigenous co-productions reflecting local languages, customs and educational needs have been produced for audiences in the Arab world, Israel, Portugal, Turkey, Germany, France, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Holland, Russia, China, South Africa, Egypt, the Philippines, Canada, Spain and Spanish-speaking Latin America.

Following the successful launch of Sesame Street, Mrs. Cooney and her colleagues created other award winning children's series on network and public TV such as, The Electric Company, 3-2-1 Contact, Square One TV, Ghostwriter, CRO, Big Bag, Dragon Tales, and Sagwa, the Chinese Cat all bringing science, mathematics, reading and new experiences to life. New show projects are presently being developed and produced for public and commercial broadcast as well as for Noggin, our 24-hour, commercial free, cable channel and online service dedicated to educating and entertaining children from ages two to twelve.

Sesame Workshop programs have been awarded over 80 Emmys and have received scores of other honors presented here and around the world. The Workshop's activities also include publishing, online services, award-winning CD-ROMs, extensive product licensing, and community outreach programs.

Mrs. Cooney, received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arizona. She began her career as a reporter in her hometown of Phoenix. From 1954 to 1962 she worked as a publicist for NBC in New York and for the U.S. Steel Hour, a highly acclaimed CBS drama series. She was an award-winning public affairs producer for New York's WNET/Thirteen before conducting the study for Carnegie Corporation of New York in 1966 which led to the founding of the Workshop.

Mrs. Cooney is a trustee of the Museum of Television and Radio, The New York and Presbyterian Hospital, and is a lifetime trustee of WNET Channel 13/Educational Broadcasting Corporation and of the National Child Labor Committee. She once served on the Boards of the Johnson & Johnson Company, Xerox Corporation, The Chase Manhattan Bank, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and Edison Schools, Inc. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

She has served as a member of the President's Commission for a National Agenda for the Eighties, the President's Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, the Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations and the Carnegie Foundation's National Panel on the High School. Among her many honorary degrees are those from Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, Barnard, New York University, Smith, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Oberlin, University of Pennsylvania and her alma mater, the University of Arizona, from which she received the Centennial Medallion Award in 1989.

Mrs. Cooney has received numerous awards including a Daytime Emmy for Lifetime Achievement in 1989 and, in 1990, was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame and received the Founders Award from the International Council of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 1995, Mrs. Cooney was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, and in 1998, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. Mrs. Cooney was honored with the Annenberg Public Policy Center's award for Distinguished Contribution to Children and Television, noting Sesame Street as being "the quintessential children's educational program." And most recently, she was awarded the National Endowment for the Humanities Award from President Bush.

Mrs. Cooney is married to New York businessman Peter G. Peterson, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce. She has five stepchildren, and presently, eight grandchildren.