Columbia taps Ford

Richard Ford, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and Mississippi native, is heading to New York City. Columbia University announced that the author of “Independence Day” is joining its faculty.

Ford, currently teaching at the University of Mississippi, will fill a newly created position at Columbia for a professor of humanities and writing. He will teach at Columbia’s MFA writing program.

Ford’s other books include the novel “The Sportswriter” and the story collection “Women With Men.”