The Nieman Foundation announced Tuesday the names of the 12 American journalists who will join the 59th class of Nieman Fellows in the fall.

Nieman Fellowships are awarded to working journalists of particular accomplishment and promise for an academic year of study in any part of the University.

Nieman recipient Lori Cohen, a producer/editor at WGBH-TV in Boston, said she plans to study cultural, historic and theoretical factors in economic development.

"I am thrilled--not just excited," said Cohen of her selection. "I hope to see if I can write for The Crimson or the Independent, or at least do some print journalism."

Felicia R. Lee, a reporter at The New York Times, plans to study American history, religion and black culture during her year at the Nieman Foundation.

"I'm thrilled," Lee said. "[I'm] really excited about leaving the newsroom, not only getting a chance to study but to meet the other fellows."

Lee said she loves the fast pace of journalism but is looking forward to taking time away from the newspaper industry.

"[I have] a fantasy to read, read, read," she said.

Richard Read, an international business writer at The Oregonian in Portland, will study international politics, trade and finance.

Read said he is "terrifically excited" to be a Nieman Fellow.

"I grew up in Cambridge," said Read, "so it's a return trip."

Read called the Nieman Fellowships a "super program" and said he is looking forward to meeting the foreign correspondents who will be announced later this month.

Seeger Murray, a Nieman Foundation official, said that each Nieman Fellow designs his or her own program. The fellows will each audit three classes and complete the course work for a fourth. The fellows will also participate in seminars at the Nieman Foundation.

The Nieman Foundation was established in 1939 at the bequest of Agnes Wahl Nieman in memory of her husband, Lucius, who was the founder and publisher of The Milwaukee Journal.

To date, nearly 1,000 American and international journalists have studied at Harvard as Nieman Fellows.

Murray said fellows must meet two criteria: They must be "committed journalists and respond to the atmosphere at Harvard."

According to Murray, the selection committee asks, "Is this person someone will take use of the resources at Harvard?"

The full list of 1996-97 Nieman Fellows includes: Cohen; Lee; Read; Robert Blau, an editor/reporter at the Chicago Tribune; Mark Jaffe, an environmental reporter, and Marjorie Valburn, a staff writer, both at The Philadelphia Inquirer; Laura King from the Associated Press Tokyo Bureau; Terri Lichstein, a producer at ABC News; Myra Ming, a senior news producer at KTTV in Los Angeles; Deborah Steward from the Associated Press Moscow Bureau; Robert Vare, an articles editor at The New Yorker; and Paige Wilson, a reporter at The Charlotte Observer