Joe Stephens is Ferris Professor in residence and a veteran investigative journalist.
A three-time winner of the George Polk Award and a three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, he joined The Washington Post’s investigative projects team in 1999. He has written extensively on presidential politics, political corruption, the war against terrorism, Afghan reconstruction, the federal judiciary and drug experiments conducted on children in the developing world.
Stephens has reported and lectured in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and across the U.S. His stories have led to Congressional hearings, national legislative reforms, criminal convictions and millions of dollars in fines.
He has won more than a dozen national honors, including top awards from the Overseas Press Club, the Gerald Loeb Foundation, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Scripps Howard Foundation, Investigative Reporters & Editors, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. He has been a finalist on multiple occasions for Harvard’s Goldsmith Prize, the Gerald Loeb award for financial reporting and the Investigative Reporters and Editors award.
Since 2014, Stephens has led the university’s Walter Lord Society, a public affairs discussion group. In 2016, he was named Faculty in Residence at Mathey College. His courses include Investigative Journalism, Global Reporting and The Media in America.