Ann Marie Lipinski, former editor of the Chicago Tribune, on Tuesday was named curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

Lipinski returns to the journalism field full time after resigning from the Tribune in 2008, shortly after the parent company of newspaper, Tribune Co., was taken private in a transaction led by Chicago real estate mogul Sam Zell. She had been the paper’s editor for more than seven years and had worked at the Chicago Tribune for 30 years, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for investigative reporting.

After leaving the paper, she has worked at the University of Chicago where she was vice president for civic engagement.

As curator, Lipinski will manage the foundation’s fellowship program for mid-career journalists and oversee other programs and publications. She was a Nieman fellow in 1989.

“Harvard and the Nieman Foundation have an extraordinary record of promoting and elevating the standards of journalism, and there is more to be done,” Lipinski said in a statement. “I look forward to working with colleagues at universities and news organizations globally in addressing the challenges and promise of journalism. Harvard’s deep commitment to this work and to excellence makes this an extraordinary time to be at Nieman.”

She succeeds longtime curator Bob Giles, who announced his retirement last fall.