Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Walter V. Robinson, LA'74, H'05, will return to Northeastern in January, joining the faculty as a Distinguished Professor of Journalism.

A veteran Boston Globe journalist, Robinson is best known for directing the paper's Spotlight Team investigation of the Catholic Church clergy sexual-abuse scandal, for which the Globe received the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2003.

"Walter Robinson brings a wealth of experience to our program as one of the nation's leading journalists," says Stephen Burgard, School of Journalism director. "This will benefit all our students, and be of special interest to graduate students and select undergraduates interested in learning investigative-reporting techniques from one of the industry masters."

Burgard says Robinson will teach graduate and undergraduate courses, and establish an investigative-reporting course targeted at mid-career journalists. He will also continue an association with the Globe, serving as a consultant to the paper.

Robinson began working at the Boston Globe as a co-op student, then took a job there immediately after graduation. During his three decades as a journalist, he has reported stories from forty-eight states and thirty foreign countries.

Currently the assistant managing editor for investigations, Robinson has served as city editor and as assistant managing editor for local news. He held bureau-chief positions for both Boston City Hall and the Massachusetts State House.

He also served as a Washington bureau reporter, covering the White House under Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, and was the Middle East bureau chief at the Globe during the Persian Gulf crisis and the first Persian Gulf War.

The Spotlight Team, which Robinson has directed since 1999, is the Globe's renowned investigative unit. Along with its reports on the clergy sexual-abuse scandal, it has uncovered municipal corruption, problems in the stewardship of private charitable foundations, and, most recently, unfair debt-collection practices, in a series titled "Debtors' Hell." Many of the team's series have won journalism prizes.

Robinson says he's enthusiastic about returning to his alma mater.

"Northeastern's co-op program provided me with the journalistic skills—as well as the boost I needed—to win a spot on the staff of the Boston Globe, where I have had the extraordinary good fortune to work with some of the best reporters and editors in the country," he says. "Now it's time for me to complete the loop, to join Northeastern's terrific journalism faculty in the hope I can help some of its students realize the same opportunities I have had."

As a Northeastern student, Robinson—a Melrose, Massachusetts, native—took time out from his education to spend four years in the U.S. Army. After returning to complete his undergraduate degree, he taught journalism part-time at the university, from 1974 to 1976.

In addition to his honorary doctorate from Northeastern, he also holds an honorary doctorate from Emerson College, and served as a Journalism Fellow at Stanford University.

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