The Toni Stabile Center is endowed by a $5 million donation from Toni Stabile of Naples, Florida. An award-winning investigative journalist in her own right, Stabile is also president of the Vincent A. Stabile Foundation. The center, which opened its doors to students on Aug. 21, will train students specializing in investigative journalism as part of the school?s master of science degree program. The center will also offer fellowship opportunities.

In addition to Coronel’s address on the state of global investigative journalism, Dean Nicholas Lemann also announced an historic $100 million fundraising campaign, which coincides with the school’s 100th anniversary.

“The launch of the Stabile Center is another step forward,” said Lemann.

“The study of investigative journalism is central to the watchdog role of a free press. By strengthening our students’ investigative reporting skills, the new center will help strengthen the practice of journalism."

Coronel most recently served as executive director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), a nonprofit media agency she co-founded in 1989 to promote investigative reporting. Nothing like it had previously existed in the Philippines. Under her leadership, PCIJ became the premier investigative reporting institution in Asia.

“My experience as a journalist has shown that carefully researched, high-impact investigative reports help build the media’s credibility,’ said Coronel. “The press as an institution is strengthened if journalists have demonstrated that they serve the public interest. I look forward to sharing with my students the techniques and ethos of watchdog journalism in the hope that they will do great reporting in the investigative tradition."

Coronel’s career as a journalist spans more than two decades. She has reported for “The Manila Times,” “The Manila Chronicle,” and “The New York Times’ and has covered some of the Philippines’ most renowned political figures. A recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, Coronel in 2001 was named the country’s Print Journalist of the Year and was listed among “Asiaweek’s Top 50 Communicators in Asia. In 2003, she received the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, often described as the Asian Nobel Prize, for ‘leading a groundbreaking collaborative effort to develop  investigative journalism as a critical component of democratic discourse in the Philippines."

Coronel began her reporting career in 1982, when she joined the staff of “Philippine Panorama”, a widely read magazine. As Ferdinand Marcos gradually lost political power, Sheila reported on human rights abuses, the growing democratic movement, and the election of Corazon Aquino as president. She later joined the staff of the “Manila Times” as a political reporter, and also wrote special reports for “The Manila Chronicle". As a stringer for “The New York Times” and “The Guardian” (London), she covered seven attempted coups d’etat against the Aquino government.

In 1989, Coronel and her colleagues founded the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) to promote investigative reporting. The PCIJ trains journalists in investigative skills, and has provided an environment for in-depth, groundbreaking reporting. The Center has investigated and reported on major social issues including the military, poverty, and corruption. Under Coronel’s leadership, the Center became the premier investigative reporting institution in the Philippines and Asia.

Coronel is the author and editor of more than a dozen books, including “Coups, Cults & Cannibals”, a collection of reportage; “The Rulemakers: How the wealthy and well-born dominate Congress"; and “Pork and other Perks: Corruption and Governance in the Philippines". She has received numerous awards and widespread recognition of her work.

She received an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of the Philippines, and a masters in political sociology from the London School of Economics.