Melanie Burney

Melanie L. Burney, is an award-winning journalist at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

A 1984 cum laude graduate of Glassboro State College, now Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J. with a B.A. in Communications/Journalism, Melanie began her journalism career at the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill, N.J.

She spent 14 years at the Associated Press as a newswoman in Philadelphia and later as one of the AP’s first black correspondents, covering five counties in southern New Jersey.

In March 2000, Melanie joined the Inquirer as an education reporter, covering the Camden, N.J. school system and education issues and trends. She anchored a three-member Inquirer investigative team that uncovered a culture of cheating in Camden schools. She served five years on the Inquirer’s editorial board. Currently, she is an Education reporter based in New Jersey.

Born in Akron, Ohio, Melanie grew up in Burlington County, N.J. She began reading her local newspaper when she was about 10 years old and knew early on that she wanted to become a journalist.

She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists. She served two terms as Parliamentarian on the NABJ Board of Directors. She is also a member of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists.

Melanie is a Life Member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She is a member of Theta Pi Omega Chapter in South Jersey. She has served as President, Second Vice-President, Parliamentarian, Sergeant-at-Arms and Graduate Advisor to the AKA undergraduate chapter at Rowan where she was initiated in 1982.

She served two terms on the Rowan University Alumni Board of Directors. She is a founding member of the Rowan University Black Alumni Network. She is a member of the Representative Assembly of Local 10 of the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia and serves on its Executive Board as First Vice President.

Melanie is also an active member of North Baptist Church in Woodbury, N.J., where she serves on the Ushers Board, Publicity Ministry, Pastor's Aid Ministry and the Food Bank Ministry.

She resides in Deptford, N.J.