Much of the last 20 he spent in public radio, serving as arts and culture correspondent for NPR News and, most recently, as the creator and host of The Next Big Thing. Currently a visiting professor in the journalism department at NYU, Dean also recorded the audio version of Steven Pinker's new book The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window Into Human Nature and is finishing his own book about crossword puzzles (Scribner).

He occasionally fills in as host of The Leonard Lopate Show.