Stephen Burgard, Director

Stephen Burgard is an author, journalist and educator. He currently is director of the School of Journalism at Northeastern University in Boston.

He joined the faculty of Northeastern as an associate professor in 2002 after 26 years as an editor and reporter at daily newspapers across the country.

He was a member of the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times from 1990 to 2002, serving as editor of the editorial pages in the Orange County Edition, where he won many awards for his editorial writing. He helped lead the newspaper’s editorial page coverage of the aftermath of the 1992 Rodney King verdict riots in Los Angeles. He was part of the staff effort that won the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the 1994 Northridge earthquake. He wrote the newspaper's editorials on politics and religion in the 2000 presidential campaign and after September 11.

At Northeastern, he has written for Columbia Journalism Review, the Christian Science Monitor, and other publications, and is a frequent commentator on the press. 

Professor Burgard teaches journalism ethics, and is interested in the relationship between the press and religion. His book, Hallowed Ground, was one of Amazon.com's Top Ten Religion Books of 1997.  The Journal of the American Academy of Religion called that book "a road map for the future." In 2010, his second book, “Faith, Politics and Press In Our Perilous Times” was published by Kendall Hunt. It is his edited collection of essays on covering religion contributed by leading experts.

He is a regular visiting fellow at UC Irvine's Center for the Study of Democracy. At Northeastern, he recently helped organize a new college of Arts, Media and Design.

Professor Burgard can be reached at (617) 373-3238 or by e-mail at s.burgard@neu.edu.

Get more information about Faith Politics & Press In Our Perilous Times.>>

Return to the Faculty Directory>>