The Eagle’s advisory board has selected Walker Whalen, The Eagle’s current investigations and data editor in the news section, as its editor-in-chief for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Whalen leads the investigations section under the News team, overseeing recent coverage of the American University Office of Equity and Title IX, university students charged with voyeurism, campus accessibility and workplace environment for students in residential life. They have been a member of The Eagle since their freshman year, starting as a news staff writer and later serving as an investigative reporter.
Whalen is the first nonbinary editor-in-chief of The Eagle in its 100-year history.
The junior in the School of Communication won a 2023 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Award for Investigative Reporting for their investigation into the issues with accommodations and building accessibility that created barriers for AU community members with disabilities. They also co-wrote the spring 2024 print cover story about how a private university grapples with free speech, which won the College Media Association's Pinnacle Award for Best General News Story.
News Managing Editor Tyler Davis, who worked alongside Whalen as a section editor and later oversaw their work, said they have “always served as a pillar of stability” for them at The Eagle.
“Walker has the passion and vision needed to guide The Eagle to new heights during its 100th year — I couldn’t be more excited to see how far they go,” Davis said.
Whalen, who hails from San Francisco, is majoring in journalism and political science. They work as an automated web scraper for the Associated Press, collecting real-time election results for primaries and general election races, and as a research and production coordinator for Hunni Media, contributing to a feature-length documentary, “Breaking the West.” Previously, they were a reporting intern with the Laslo Congressional Bureau and an impact coordinator with Active Voice Lab. Whalen will take over as editor-in-chief in April 2025.
