Donald Gilliland was a working journalist for 30 years before coming to St. Bonaventure full-time in 2025, with experience ranging from managing a rural weekly newspaper to editing for national publications based in Washington, D.C.
He was on the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal at Penn State University; his watchdog reporting for the Harrisburg Patriot-News/PennLive.com won awards from the Associated Press, Pennsylvania Bar Association and Pennsylvania News Media Association. His reporting on prisons changed state law. His expose of Pennsylvania’s homeland security agency tracking law-abiding citizens resulted in cessation of the program, legislative hearings and the resignation of a cabinet secretary. His reporting on a multi-billion-dollar accounting fraud scandal at a Fortune 500 company and the subsequent federal trial of company executives won multiple awards and was featured in the New York Times.
Gilliland’s work at the weekly won more than 30 state awards for investigative, business, feature and beat reporting as well as photography; under his leadership the newspaper three times was named the best mid-sized weekly in Pennsylvania.
As an editor, Gilliland managed coverage of national presidential elections for both the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; he also served as a digital editor at both publications. He managed reporters specializing in crime and courts, transportation, and city government.
Gilliland served as an opinion editor for The Hill and The Messenger in Washington, D.C., specializing in politics, foreign relations, national security, technology and cybersecurity.
Gilliland was a founding member and two-term president of the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition, served on the board of directors for the Pennsylvania Society of News Editors, designed the curriculum for the Pennsylvania News Media Association’s week-long “boot camp” for new reporters, and participated in the legislative review and policy debate during the overhaul of the state’s open records law.
He has done numerous national and international broadcast media appearances on topics ranging from national politics to corporate and government fraud to the geology of Marcellus Shale; twice he has served as an expert panelist for the Transatlantic Leadership Network’s Freedom of the Media conference in Washington, D.C.