Philip Merrill College of Journalism | University of Maryland

Lucinda Fleeson
Curriculum Vitae

lfleeson@jmail.umd.edu

Lucinda Fleeson is an award-winning journalist with extensive international experience. She has trained professional journalists in Eastern and Central Europe, the Balkans, Africa and Latin America. Her training manual for teaching investigative reporting in developing democracies has been translated into 18 languages. "Waking Up In Eden," her non-fiction memoir, will be published in June 2009 by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM TRAINING

Director, Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland (2002 - present)

Other:

Election workshop training, Ecuador, September 2006;

Journalism training, Guadalajara, December 2006;

Investigative reporting training, Armenia, 2004;

Investigative reporting workshop for newspaper senior editors from the Caucasus region, International Center for Journalists, 2002;

John F. McGee Fellowship in Southern Africa, Botswana, Inaugural fellow, based at the University of Botswana 2001;

Professional in Residence, Kosovo, October-November 2000, website launch of independent news agency;

Investigative and election workshops, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Lithuania;

Knight International Press Fellowship, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and the Czech Republic, 1998.

MERRILL COLLEGE JOURNALISM TEACHING

Inaugurated the College's International Reporting Class, leading a trip in 2007 to Mexico City, which resulted in magazine stories and a website. In in 2008, she led a class to Vietnam, producing a multi-media website.

Feature Writing, Complex Story writing, and Women in the Media courses, 2002 - present.

JOURNALISM EXPERIENCE

The Philadelphia Inquirer staff reporter, 1980-1995

Produced thousands of stories, including investigative reports and magazine stories in labor, cultural affairs, science, and feature beats. Stories ranged from revealing narcotics connections in the Atlantic City Police Department to chronicling the transformation of the reclusive Barnes Foundation, including breaking the story of its plans to sell many of its French paintings, causing an international art scandal.

Other investigative reports include stories on: how unions and city officials rigged labor contracts; how millions of dollars of city construction jobs were awarded to sham companies; how the Pew Charitable Trusts cut funding to its home city; and how safety controls failed to ensure health of coal miners. Coverage of NEA arts funding controversy awarded Photo Review prize for explanatory journalism.

Created new Home and Design section, which won several awards.

EDUCATION

Nieman Fellow, Harvard University 1984 - 1985

B.S. Cum Laude, Boston University School of Public Communication

International Center for Photography student grant to document migrant tobacco workers

National student journalism award for BU News photography

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Mother Jones

Leaving Laredo, a report from Mexico ten years into NAFTA, September 2003
Iowa’s Biotech Pioneer, March 2003

American Journalism Review

TV News’ Vanishing Bureaus, October 2003
The Washington Beat, October 2002
Stevie Wonder: A Profile of Washington Post ME Steve Coll, June 2002
Civilian Casualty Conundrum, April 2002
Honolulu Newspaper War, January 2002
Washington Coverage: Where are the Watch Dogs? July/August 2001
The Battle of Salt Lake City: Utah's Newspaper War, March 2001
Ruh to Judgment: The New York Times and the Wen Ho Lee Case, November 2000 (National Press Club First Place for Press Criticism)

Training Guides:

On the Right Track, a compendium of investigative reports by Armenian journalists, published by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)

Dig Deep and Aim High, a manual for teaching investigative reporting in developing democracies, published by ICFJ

Ten Steps to Investigative Reporting: A Reporter's Guide. Translated by ICFJ into 18 languages, including Russian, Spanish, French, Arabic, Hungarian, Romanian and Bulgarian.