The Center for Ethics in Journalism welcomes Fall 2021 Visiting Distinguished Professor Raquel Rutledge this week. Rutledge is an investigative reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where she covers a variety of subjects from health and science to crime and taxes. Her investigation into fraud in Wisconsin's daycare subsidy program won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting.

"I am excited to help students at the University of Arkansas prepare to bring hidden truths to light in the most powerful ways possible," she said. "There are few things more important."  

Raymond McCaffrey, the director of the Center for Ethics in Journalism, said that Rutledge's appointment was especially important at a time when many local newspapers have been forced to cut staff or stop publishing altogether because of economic challenges related to the global pandemic and the overall conversion from print to digital news.

"The power of hard-hitting local journalism can be seen in Raquel's ongoing work," McCaffrey said.

Most recently, Rutledge led an investigation into violence that health care workers face on the job and the ways hospitals fail to protect them. The series, "In the Shadows," was the winner of a 2021 National Headliner award for business reporting and was recently named a finalist for a Gerald Loeb Award.

"We are delighted Raquel Rutledge will be joining us this fall," said professor Larry Foley, chair of the School of Journalism and Strategic Media. "Investigative journalism is fascinating and much needed, and we all look forward to learning from one of the best. We deserve the truth, and that often takes investigative reporting to tell us what is really going on, in business, politics and within our individual communities."

As part of an O'Brien Fellowship at Marquette University in 2014, Rutledge uncovered how a chemical known to cause deadly lung disease is endangering coffee workers and those who use e-cigarettes. She was recognized in 2018 with national awards for exposing dozens of deaths and injuries of tourists in Mexico as well as the dangers that barrel recycling plants pose to workers and nearby residents.

In 2011, Rutledge was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University studying food regulation. The following year she led an investigation into the FDA and a local company responsible for tainted alcohol wipes linked to the death of a 2-year-old boy. The series, "Shattered Trust," won a Gerald Loeb Award along with other national accolades.

Rutledge is married and has two sons, one a senior in high school and the other at university in Spain. She's obsessed with the family's two dogs, is enthusiastic about her multi-ethnic faith community and loves hiking, mountain biking and exploring the world whenever possible. 

For updates on the visiting distinguished professors' lecture series, visit the Center for Ethics in Journalism website or contact Alexis Campbell at amc047@uark.edu.

About the Center for Ethics in Journalism: The Center for Ethics in Journalism was established at the University of Arkansas in 2013. The center was founded on beliefs that the future of excellent journalism depends on the ethical practices of those who gather and present the news. The center promotes critical thinking as foremost in the process of reaching ethical choices in identifying, collecting and presenting news that informs the public, whose decisions shape democracy. The Center for Ethics in Journalism is part of the School of Journalism and Strategic Media within the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas.