Ian Shapira

Washington, D.C.

Enterprise reporter covering the Washington region and beyond Education: Princeton University, AB in English, 2000; American University, MA in journalism, 2011; Warren Wilson College, MFA in creative writing (fiction), 2020 Ian Shapira joined The Washington Post in 2000 as a summer reporting intern in the Style section. He is now a member of the Metro section’s enterprise team where he writes about social justice issues and the military and intelligence communities. He has taken a special interest in writing about CIA officers who've been killed in the line of duty and honored with stars on the agency's Memorial Wall. His articles on the Virginia Tech and Navy Yard shootings were included in the Post's entries that won the Pulitzer Prize and that were named as a finalist in the breaking news category. His stories chronicling systemic racism in 2020 at the Virginia Military Institute won a George Polk award for state reporting. The articles prompted an independent investigation into the school ordered by the governor, the resignation of the college's longtime superintendent, the appointment of VMI's first Black leader, and the removal of the campus’s 108-year-old statue of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson. In 2012, his discovery of archival documents about a Renoir painting up for auction led to its seizure by the FBI and the revelation it had been stolen decades earlier from the Baltimore Museum of Art. His essay on life in the first month of the coronavirus pandemic appeared as part of The Sewanee Review’s series, “The Corona Correspondences.” Shapira is a native of Louisville, Kentucky. He now lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and two daughters.

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Latest from Ian Shapira

Local

VMI selects first Black superintendent as racial climate comes under scrutiny

Cedric T. Wins, a retired Army major general and 1985 VMI graduate, has been leading the school as interim superintendent since November.

Apr 15, 2021

Local

VMI ends shaming expelled students by no longer publicly identifying them

The change to the middle-of-the-night ‘drum outs’ at the Virginia Military Institute comes amid an investigation into racism at the Lexington, Va., school.

Mar 16, 2021

Public Safety

Three-car crash in Spotsylvania County results in two fatalities

A third person suffered minor injuries, Virginia State Police said.

Mar 14, 2021

Public Safety

Fairfax police identify motorcyclist killed in crash with Fairfax Connector bus

Travis West, 20, died after rapidly accelerating his bike alongside a motorist and another motorcyclist, police said.

Mar 14, 2021

Local

Racial slurs at VMI ‘a common experience’ for Black cadets, investigators told

In addition to allegations of racism at Virginia Military Institute, 8 percent of female cadets reported to the school that they had ‘experienced some sort of sexual assault.’

Mar 9, 2021

Local

Investigation into racism at VMI moves forward after dispute over lawyers at interviews

Teachers at the Virginia Military Institute said they have spoken with investigators and have not felt pressure to have a VMI attorney present.

Feb 19, 2021

Local

VMI resists letting investigators interview cadets, faculty without its lawyers present, report says

The dispute has delayed a state-ordered inquiry into allegations of racism at Virginia Military Institute.

Feb 9, 2021

Local

D.C. opens vaccination sign-up times for day-care, charter school workers

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser also announces a campaign with city clergy.

Feb 7, 2021

Local

VMI, under fire for expelling Black cadets, considers changes to prized honor system

Virginia Military Institute’s student-run Honor Court convicts and expels African Americans at a disproportionately high rate, The Post revealed last month.

Jan 29, 2021

Local

VMI commandant to retire as racial reckoning continues

Retired Col. William “Bill” Wanovich, who came under fire for a 2017 Halloween photo mocking Hispanics, will leave the Virginia Military Institute at the end of the academic year.

Jan 23, 2021

About Ian Shapira

Ian Shapira joined The Washington Post in 2000 as a summer reporting intern in the Style section. He is now a member of the Metro section’s enterprise team where he writes about social justice issues and the military and intelligence communities. He has taken a special interest in writing about CIA officers who've been killed in the line of duty and honored with stars on the agency's Memorial Wall. His articles on the Virginia Tech and Navy Yard shootings were included in the Post's entries that won the Pulitzer Prize and that were named as a finalist in the breaking news category. His stories chronicling systemic racism in 2020 at the Virginia Military Institute won a George Polk award for state reporting. The articles prompted an independent investigation into the school ordered by the governor, the resignation of the college's longtime superintendent, the appointment of VMI's first Black leader, and the removal of the campus’s 108-year-old statue of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson. In 2012, his discovery of archival documents about a Renoir painting up for auction led to its seizure by the FBI and the revelation it had been stolen decades earlier from the Baltimore Museum of Art. His essay on life in the first month of the coronavirus pandemic appeared as part of The Sewanee Review’s series, “The Corona Correspondences.” Shapira is a native of Louisville, Kentucky. He now lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and two daughters.