Elmer Ploetz, SUNY Freedonia
CCN Faculty Champion
Center for Community News
BIO
Ploetz, who joined the SUNY Fredonia faculty in 2008, was the first faculty member for the journalism major, which he helped design. He has advised The Leader, the student print and online newspaper, since 2009 and received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2019.
Away from the classroom, Ploetz is the founding editor-in-chief of The Buffalo Hive, a new nonprofit journalism organization which launched in July of 2024. It is dedicated to covering arts and culture in the Buffalo and Western New York region. He has also produced two long-form video documentaries on the history of Buffalo’s early punk rock scene, has edited the JAM (Journal of Americana Music) and has served on the boards of directors for the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame and the Sportsmen’s Americana Music Association.
Before joining the faculty at SUNY Fredonia, Ploetz spent 27 years in print journalism, the last 23 at The Buffalo News (where he produced the paper’s first online videos and worked as a news reporter and sports copy editor).
Ploetz received his B.A. in journalism from St. Bonaventure University and his M.A. in American Studies from the University at Buffalo.
Bio
Ploetz, who joined the SUNY Fredonia faculty in 2008, was the first faculty member for the journalism major, which he helped design. He has advised The Leader, the student print and online newspaper, since 2009 and received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2019.
Away from the classroom, Ploetz is the founding editor-in-chief of The Buffalo Hive, a new nonprofit journalism organization which launched in July of 2024. It is dedicated to covering arts and culture in the Buffalo and Western New York region. He has also produced two long-form video documentaries on the history of Buffalo’s early punk rock scene, has edited the JAM (Journal of Americana Music) and has served on the boards of directors for the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame and the Sportsmen’s Americana Music Association.
Before joining the faculty at SUNY Fredonia, Ploetz spent 27 years in print journalism, the last 23 at The Buffalo News (where he produced the paper’s first online videos and worked as a news reporter and sports copy editor).
Ploetz received his B.A. in journalism from St. Bonaventure University and his M.A. in American Studies from the University at Buffalo.