Stephen J. Dubner ’84 is an award-winning author, journalist and radio and TV personality. He is best known as co-author of the "Freakonomics" book series, which has sold more than 7 million copies in over 40 countries. He is also the host of "Freakonomics Radio," which gets 8 million monthly downloads and airs on NPR stations and elsewhere.

"Freakonomics," published in 2005, was an instant international bestseller and cultural phenomenon. "SuperFreakonomics" followed to similar acclaim in 2009, and in 2010 a documentary film version of "Freakonomics" was chosen as the closing film of the Tribeca Film Festival. "Think Like a Freak," published in 2014, immediately took up a long residency atop the international bestseller lists and was followed by "When to Rob a Bank," a collection of posts from the Freakonomics blog, which has been called “the most readable economics blog in the universe.”

Dubner has appeared widely on television, including as a regular contributor to ABC News and as host of the NFL Network's "Football Freakonomics," which was nominated for an Emmy.

His other books include "Turbulent Souls" (1998); "Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper" (2003); and the children's book "The Boy With Two Belly Buttons" (2007). His journalism has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time and elsewhere, and has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing, The Best American Crime Writing and others.

The eighth and last child of an upstate New York newspaperman, Dubner has been writing for a long time. (His first published work appeared, at age 11, in Highlights magazine.) As an undergraduate at Appalachian State University, he started a rock band that was signed to Arista Records, which landed him in New York City. He ultimately quit playing music to earn an MFA in writing at Columbia University, where he also taught in the English department. He worked at New York Magazine and The New York Times before launching his book and radio career.

Dubner, a former Chancellor's Scholar and Honors College student at Appalachian, is a graduate of the university’s B.S. in communication degree program. He was honored with the Appalachian Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012.

He lives in New York with his wife, the documentary photographer Ellen Binder, and their two children.