Cheryl L. Reed is a journalist, writer and teacher. Besides the hundreds of stories she has written as a staff reporter for various newspapers around the country, Ms. Reed’s recent freelance articles have appeared in U.S. News & World Report, the Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine, Salon.com, Mother Jones, Poets & Writers, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and others. Her stories have changed national and state laws and won numerous awards, including Harvard University’s Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, the Investigative Reporters & Editors Award for Investigative Reporting and the Edgar A. Poe Award by the White House Correspondents' Association. Ms. Reed has received several journalism and literary grants and fellowships. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism where she received her dual bachelor’s degrees in newswriting and photojournalism. She earned  her  master’s   degree  from  the Ohio State University. Ms. Reed has taught writing workshops and was a visiting professor at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is currently an investigative reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times and lives in Chicago.