Walter Fields

About

Walter Fields has devoted his life to the pursuit of justice for underserved communities and the civil protection of the disadvantaged. His commitment to the uplift of humanity began at age 13 when he became the youngest political appointee in the history of his hometown, serving on the Hackensack (NJ) Youth Guidance Council. Throughout his undergraduate years at Morgan State University and graduate education at New York University, he continued his role as a social justice advocate, working to advance diversity and inclusion in institutional settings.                                                                                                                                                            Professionally, Walter Fields has been involved in campaigns to preserve the civil justice system, assist families of the incarcerated to preserve familial ties, promote violence reduction between African-American youth, build alliances across diverse communities, close the racial achievement gap in public education, and protect voting rights among a myriad of projects. In addition, he has engaged in several international projects aimed at fostering democratization and human rights. Walter has also been an adjunct professor in political science at Montclair State University and a Visiting Lecturer in public policy at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo, Japan. 


He is the founder of the Black Parents Workshop, Inc., a parents advocacy organization based in South Orange-Maplewood, NJ that championed a landmark federal lawsuit on behalf of students in the local school district. Upon his relocation to Maryland, he has assumed the role of Co-Chairperson of Strong Schools Maryland, a statewide education equity advocacy organization. He is also on the staff of the newly conceived National Center for the Elimination of Educational Disparities (NCEED) in the School of Education and Urban Studies at Morgan State University, designing the center's parent and family engagement initiative. He oversees NCEED's work in family and community engagement and public policy. 

His background includes work as an award-winning journalist and experience in every medium of journalism – daily press, magazines, radio, television, and Internet news. He was hired by NBC News as an original political contributor on the MSNBC Cable News Channel and for MSNBC.com. Walter Fields has also been a strong advocate for diversity in media and accountability in reporting. He currently serves as the Executive Editor of NorthStarNews.com.

Walter Fields holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Morgan State University, a Master of Public Administration degree with a specialization in public policy analyses and a professional certificate in not-for-profit management from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, where he was a Patricia Roberts Harris Fellow and a Master of Arts degree in Political Science from the City University of New York Graduate Center as an inaugural National Science Foundation Fellow. 
​​He is currently a student in the PhD program in Applied Sociology and Social Justice at Morgan State University.


He is also a proud member of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc., one of the 'Divine 9' National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations, serves as the fraternity's National Director of Communications, Chairman of Brown and Gold PAC, and is a member of Beta Phi Omega Alumni Chapter. Walter also served as a Member of the Prince George's County (MD) Board of Education, appointed by County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, and served as the Chairman of the Policy & Governance Committee. 


Walter is married to Donna Wharton-Fields, an alumna of Williams College and MIT, and they have a daughter, Jordan Marie Fields, a student-athlete alumna of the University of Pittsburgh who is now a joint degree candidate in the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and the Carnegie Mellon University Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy.