Steven Pearlstein

Steven Pearlstein, a Pulitzer-prize winning business and economics columnist for the Washington Post, joined the GMU faculty as Robinson Professor of Public and International Affairs in the fall of 2011. His route to university teaching has been an unconventional one. After several years as a reporter for small newspapers in New Hampshire, he moved to Washington to serve as administrative assistant to members of the House and Senate. He was a TV reporter for public television in Boston, senior editor at Inc. magazine, and founding editor and publisher of The Boston Observer, a monthly political magazine. He returned to Washington in 1988 as deputy business editor and, over the next 23 years, also served as the Post’s defense industry reporter, economics writer and Canadian correspondent. He became an opinion columnist in 2003, with a wide-ranging interest in business and economic topics of local, national and international interest.

Professor Pearlstein was awarded the Gerald R. Loeb Award for commentary in 2007 and the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2008 for columns the previous year anticipating and explaining the recent financial crisis and global economic downturn. In 2011 he won the Gerald R. Loeb Award for lifetime achievement in business and financial journalism. His work has also been cited by the Society of Business Editors and Writers. He has appeared frequently as a commentator on national television and radio programs. He continues to write a bi-weekly column for the Post’s Sunday Business section and oversees the Post’s leadership web site, On Leadership.

At GMU, Professor Pearlstein focuses on teaching basic principles of economics and economic policy and exploring new ways to improve the economic literacy of undergraduates who are not economics majors. He will also teach a freshman reading and writing course in the Honors College beginning in the spring of 2012.

Professor Pearlstein grew up in Brookline, Mass. and graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. in 1973 with a B.A. in American Studies. He is a former moderator of West Newbury, Mass. and a director of the Washington Tennis and Educational Foundation. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Wendy Gray.