Deborah Nelson

Associate Prof. Deborah Nelson, J.D., is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist based at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. She has worked for the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Seattle Times and Chicago Sun-Times with a focus on exposing social, economic, racial and environmental injustice. She shared in a Pulitzer for a series on low-income housing and co-edited Pulitzer-winning investigations of military accidents and the D.C child welfare system. Since joining the faculty in 2006, she has published a book on war crimes and co-authored award-winning series for Reuters on climate change, income inequality, superbugs, and the military. Her most recent investigation led Congress in 2020 to appropriate $300 million to fix dangerous conditions in family housing on U.S. military bases. Her journalism students have investigated homelessness, jails, wrongful convictions, human trafficking and climate change. Their stories have been distributed nationally by The Associated Press. Prof. Nelson has a Bachelor of Science in journalism and a law degree.