June 16, 2008

Dean Baquet, Washington bureau chief and assistant managing editor of The New York Times, has joined the Board of Advisors of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. A Pulitzer Prize winner, Baquet becomes the 15th member of the advisory panel, which is made up of nationally prominent media executives and news professionals who provide guidance to the school and its dean, Stephen B. Shepard.

"Dean is a great journalist and a marvelous person," Shepard said upon announcing Baquet's appointment. "We're delighted to have him on our board."

Baquet delivered the commencement address and received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters at the school's first graduation in December 2007. He made news in 2006 when he resigned as editor of The Los Angeles Times after refusing to make sweeping newsroom cuts ordered by the paper's owner, Tribune Co. Soon after, he rejoined The New York Times, where had had worked from 1990 to 2000 as an investigative reporter and national affairs editor.

A native of New Orleans, he started his career there as a reporter for The States-Item and The Times-Picayune for seven years. In 1984, he moved to the Chicago Tribune, where he was chief investigative reporter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 1988 as part of a team of three reporters exposing corruption in the Chicago City Council.

Later, in his first stint at The New York Times, he was a Pulitzer finalist with another reporter for stories documenting poor care in New York City hospitals. His Pulitzer success continued at The Los Angeles Times as the paper won 14 of the prestigious journalism awards during his tenure from 2000 to 2006 as managing editor and then editor.