By Lisa Kaczke

When Walter Robinson started as a student at Northeastern in the mid-1960s, the school of journalism didn’t exist. The veteran reporter started as an English major, when journalism was only a concentration in the English department, Robinson said. By the time he graduated, he had watched journalism transition into its own department, with three faculty members and several adjuncts, he said.

Robinson, a 1974 graduate, will return to Northeastern in September as the fall commencement speaker, said Kay Onan, special assistant to President Richard Freeland.

“We usually like to honor someone who President Freeland likes to call a local hero,” Onan said.

Robinson, 59, began his career at The Boston Globe during his second co-op, after working as a reporter and photographer at the Lawrence Eagle Tribune. He was offered a job there a week after he graduated, and has been at the Globe ever since, he said.

“The co-op experience was extraordinarily beneficial for me,” Robinson said.

Robinson currently works as the editor of the Globe’s investigative Spotlight Team. As part of the team, he played a crucial role in uncovering the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003.

“In 2002, we did about 800 stories on the abuse on thousands of children by priests,” he said.

They spent a year and a half investigating the story, which had a huge impact on the Catholic Church, he said.

Robinson worked as a correspondent at the White House for seven years in the 80s, covering the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

During the Persian Gulf War, he was head of the Globe’s Middle East bureau.

“It was not the most fun time to be in the Middle East,” he said.

Robinson has also served as the Globe’s city editor, metro editor, national and foreign correspondent, and as chief of the Globe’s bureaus at Boston City Hall and the State House. He has reported stories from 48 states and over 30 countries.

Robinson was raised in Melrose, and went to high school across from The Boston Globe at Boston College High School. After his first year at Northeastern, he joined the Army for four years, serving in Vietnam as an intelligence officer with the First Cavalry Division.

After his service was over, he came back to Northeastern and graduated four years later. The fall quarter after he graduated, he began teaching newswriting courses at Northeastern. He said he loved teaching, but after two years, his hours at the Globe became so long that he couldn’t continue.

Robinson was selected from a list of possible speakers compiled last fall, Onan said. The President’s Office uses the same list to choose speakers for all four of the year’s commencement ceremonies, she said.

Robinson will address the fall’s graduates at 7:30 p.m. September 1 in Matthews Arena.