Dorothy Butler Gilliam
Project Director, Prime Movers

Phone: (202) 994-6227
Fax: (202) 994-5806
E-mail: dgilliam@gwu.edu
Office: MPA 423

Expertise

Courses Taught

JOUR 196, Washington Post Semester

Selected Works

Background

Dorothy Butler Gilliam is Director of the Young Journalists Development Project for The Washington Post.

Gilliam first joined The Post in October 1961 as a reporter on the City Desk. In the mid-60's, Gilliam left The Post to have more time with her children. She was a part-time reporter for WTTG's television program, "Panorama" in Washington, D.C., and wrote free-lance magazine articles. She returned to The Post in 1972 as an assistant editor in the Style section. In 1979 she became a columnist for The Post. Her column ran regularly in the Metro section covering such issues as education, politics and race, as well as her own personal experiences. In 1998 she accepted her current position to concentrate on developing the Young Journalists Development Project, a long-term initiative of The Post to educate and cultivate talented young people who are interested in careers in newspaper journalism. It also addresses The Post's commitment to increase job opportunities for minorities who are often underrepresented in newsrooms across the country.

Gilliam began her journalism career as a reporter for The Memphis Tri-State Defender, a black weekly. She later worked as an associate editor for Jet Magazine for two years, and associate director of information at Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Ala.

Gilliam has served as chair of the board of directors of the Robert Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (MIJE). She is a former president of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).

Born in Memphis, Tenn., Gilliam graduated cum laude from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo. with a B.A. in Journalism. She earned her master's degree at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and was honored as a recipient of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism Alumni of the Year Award in 1979. In 1991, she was a fellow at the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center at Columbia University, studying racial diversity in the American media. In the fall of 1996, she was a fellow at the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Among the honors she has received are induction into the Hall of Fame for the year 2002 by the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists; induction into the NABJ Hall of Fame in 1992; University of Missouri Honor Medal in Journalism in 1998; the Unity Award in Journalism from Lincoln (Mo.) University; the Ann O'Hare McCormick Award from the New York Newspaper Women's Club; Journalist of the Year, Achievement in Journalism, and the Washington Media Awards from the Capital Press Club. She is author of Paul Robeson, All American, published in 1976, and her work has appeared in a number of anthologies and collections.

Gilliam is a member of Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in Washington, DC, where she serves as a member of the Senior Steward Board.

Education

M.A., Journalism, Columbia University
B.A., Journalism, Lincoln University