A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and 1998 WVU Distinguished Alumnus will return to his alma mater in August to join the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism faculty.

Terry L. Wimmer, a 1976 P. I. Reed School of Journalism graduate, will hold the Shott Chair in Journalism, beginning with the Fall 2000 semester.

In April 1996, as the Health and Technology editor at The Orange County Register in California, Wimmer led a team of investigative reporters in coverage of a fertility clinic scandal at the University of California, Irvine. The newspaper’s stories won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism.

While there, he also created a new weekly consumer section on computer technology, and he designed content strategies for the paper’s online site.

“Terry Wimmer is an extraordinary addition to our faculty,”said Christine M. Martin, Journalism School interim dean.”His journalistic skill, experience and expertise are obviously tremendous assets to the school. But beyond his professional prowess, Terry has a passionate commitment to teaching, to students and to West Virginia University. We are thrilled that he is joining us.”

The Hugh I. Shott Jr. Foundation, Inc. endowed the $1 million chair in honor of the family’s more than 100-year history of leadership in West Virginia’s news media. Its purpose is to enhance the quality of journalism education in the state.

Wimmer, a Princeton, W.Va., native, is the current Freedom Forum Fellow at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He will complete his doctorate this summer.

From 1996 to 1997, as the Atwood Professor of Journalism at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, he taught courses in media ethics, advanced reporting and writing, sports writing, online reporting and newpaper/magazine production to upper-division students.

He began his journalism career as managing editor of The Daily Athenaeum and was president of the student chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists. After graduation in 1976, he went to work as a reporter for The Charleston Gazette, and later became assistant city editor (1980), then executive sports editor (1984).

Associated Press Special Correspondent George J. Esper, a 1992 WVU Distinguished Alumnus and 1953 graduate of the WVU School of Physical Education, is the current holder of the Shott Chair as a visiting professor for the Spring 2000 semester.