Quick LinksAlumni Class Notes 1930-1969
1930s
Ruth Gahnberg Miller: BA, 1938
Ruth Miller is a former reporter for the Yakima Daily Republic and The Seattle Times. She is proud to report that she is now 88 and still writing.
Mort Lachman: BA, 1939 Journalism
2004 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Beginning as a writer for Bob Hope in the late 1940s, Lachman continued his career in television as a producer for numerous acclaimed series including: All in the Family, One Day at a Time, and Kate and Allie.
1940s
Dorothy Bwelow Fribrock: BA (Journalism), 1944
Dorothy Fribrock is retired and has written a 500 page book, "Sockeye Sunday and Other Fish Tales," about her 70 years in Snug Harbor, Alaska.
Edwin Guthman: BA, 1944
2005 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Reporter and editor (Philadelphia Inquirer, Seattle Star, The Seattle Times, and the Los Angeles Times). He received the Pulitzer Prize in 1950 for National Reporting while at The Seattle Times for his series on the clearing of Communist charges against Professor Melvin Rader, who had been accused of attending a secret Communist school. He served as press secretary for Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Guthman died Aug. 31, 2008 at his home in Los Angeles. His obituary was printed in The Seattle Times and by Columns Magazine.
William (Bill) Galbraith: BA, 1946 (Journalism)
Bill Galbraith worked 13 years for the United Press as an editor and a reporter covering a variety of federal agencies including the State department and the White House. For the following 25 years he worked for CBS News as news editor of the Washington Bureau. He closed his career with CBS as Director of News Operations in Washington.
Marilyn Turner Adams: BA, 1946 (Journalism)
Ms. Adams retired as a Public Relations manager from US WEST and previously worked as a reporter for the Seattle Post Intelligencer and the Bellevue American (now King County Journal). She was a member of Women In Communication (it was Theta Sigma Phi in those days!), International Association of Business Communicators and remains an active Pi Beta Phi alumnae.
Jack Greenewald: BA 1947, Journalism
Mr. Greenewald spent 25 years as owner of newspaper, printing and publishing companies, then purchased a travel agency and traveled throughout the world for thirty years.
Harold (Hal) Zimmerman: BA, 1947
2009 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Zimmerman worked as news editor of the Sedro Woolley Courier-Times and as editor-publisher of the Cowlitz County Advocate in Castle Rock before buying the Camas Washougal Post-Record in 1957 and publishing the paper for the next 23 years. The Post-Record won first place in the nation in 1960 for community involvement and won many awards for news, editorials, advertising, and community service. He also served as President of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. Among the many leadership roles he had were serving as President of the Lions Club and a Chamber of Commerce officer in Castle Rock and President of the Kiwanis Club and Chamber of Commerce in Camas. For his many years of community service, he was named as the “Citizen of the Century” for Camas. He served 22 years in the Washington State Legislature, had leadership roles in both the House and the Senate such as serving as Chairman of Legislative Budget Committee in 1987 and sponsored key pieces of legislation, such as the state’s first Solid Waste Act in 1969 and its first tough oil spill bill in 1970. He resigned from the State Senate in 1988 when Governor Booth Gardner appointed him to the state’s Pollution Control Hearings Board. As one of the three full-time hearings board members in Environmental Hearings Office, he heard appeals on air and water pollution, shorelines appeals and helped coordinate officers of two other appeals boards.
Wallie Funk : BA, 1948
2008 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Wallie Funk is many things. He’s a journalist, a photographer, a community leader, a father, grandfather and husband. It's near impossible to pick just one aspect of his life and say, "That's the most important thing he's done." But what stands out is Funk's unwavering dedication to independent community newspaper publishing.
Read more about Wallie Funk >>
James King: BA, 1948 Journalism
2004 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Retired Senior VP and Executive Editor of The Seattle Times. Under his leadership, The Seattle Times grew from a strong Washington daily newspaper into a paper that was nationally recognized as one of the best in the Western United States.
Don Kraft: BA, 1948 (Journalism)
2005 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Don Kraft, founder of the Department of Communication's Fred Baker Endowment for Professional Education in Advertising and Public Relations, was president of Kraft Advertising from 1948 until its merger with Honig-Cooper in 1954. He was a vice president of Honig-Cooper until its Seattle office was acquired and became Kraft, Smith & Ehrig in 1959. He was president of that agency until it merged and became Evans/Kraft in 1984. At the time of his retirement in 1993, he was chairman of the parent company, then called EvansGroup.
Dan McDonough: BA, 1948
Winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize (Local General or Spot News Reporting) with fellow alumni Linda Wilson (BA, 1979) and Laurie Smith (Attended, 1994 and 1995) for their coverage of the Mt. St. Helens story for the Longview (Washington) Daily News.
Wanda Zackovich Larson: BA (Journalism), 1949
Ms. Larson lives, writes and publishes in Portland, OR. Her Blue Unicorn Press, Inc. recently published Cain's Daughters, by Phyllis K. Collier (MFA, University of Washington). Ms. Larson's own recent book is narrative poetry of Sacajawea's journey, Blue Woman/Mojave.
1950s
Cecil Webb: BA (Journalism), 1950
Cecil Webb retired in 1989 after 37 years in advertising, TV and radio sales, news, and management-ownership. An active reporter for his stations, Cecil won the Associated Press Mark Twain Award for best broadcast news operation in California in 1978.
Joseph Slate: BA, 1951 - Journalism
Slate is a successful children's author. His newest children's book, "I Want to be Free," with illustrations by Caldecott honoree E.B. Lewis, will be published by Putnam in 2009. Also in 2009, a musical based on Slate's best-selling "Miss Bindergarten" series will tour 19 cities. The schedule is on his web site: www.josephslate.com. Slate was editor of the UW Daily. Then he worked as a reporter for the Seattle Times before becoming an editor for Foreign Broadcast Information Service. It was then he decided he wanted to
be a painter and went to art school. While in art school, he sold his first short story to The New Yorker.
Dolores Sibonga: BA, 1952, Journalism; JD, 1973
2007 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Born in 1931, H. Dolores Dasalla Sibonga became the first Filipina-American lawyer in Washington state. On October 18, 1973, the Washington State Bar admitted her, making her the first Filipina-American woman member as well. She was honored at the 2008 MAP Bridging the Gap Breakfast honoring leaders in diversity.
Read more about Dolores Sibonga >>
Joanne Sussman Arfin: BA, 1953
Ms. Arfin Moved to San Francisco right after graduation, determined to make her name in advertising, but found incredible stereotyping and a reluctance to let her do more than be a secretary. She worked for a weekly newspaper in San Francisco (Jewish Bulletin), raised a family, and then returned to work as secretary to the president of Stanford University.
She had this to say about her 50th college reunion in 2003: "We could have spent much more time visiting the Department but the little time we did spend there made me (as well as the others on the tour) realize that much has changed since 1953. In fact the Communications building was barely completed that year and already there has been at least one major remodel. At Lewis Hall we were a relatively small group of 50 or 60 journalism majors (divided by editorial or advertising groups) involved with taking all our classes together during our junior year and busy putting out The Daily in the afternoons. Those were intense and rather stressful times for us but also a lot of fun. My big disappointment in 1952 was getting permission to stay out all night (not easy to get in days of sorority standards) to help cover the national election only to find out that Eisenhower had won even before our western polls had closed! Today you have modern technology and TV (I Love Lucy was still in it's prime back in '52) and digital media not to mention all sorts of computer aids. Truly, the visit was an awakening for me."
Tom Koenninger, B.A. 1953
2005 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Retired editor of the Columbian (Vancouver) and an active volunteer in a wide variety of community endeavors (e.g., the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges as member and chair; Vancouver's Celebrate Freedom Committee, the Conservation Land Trust Advisory Board, the Vancouver National Historic Reserve Trust Board and Long Range Committee, the Clark College Alumni Association Board of Directors, the "Festival 150" Planning Committee, and the Lewis and Clark Commemorative Committee.) He has long been a member of the department's visiting committee.
Robin Worthington: BA, 1953
During her career as a reporter, Ms. Worthington worked at various newspapers, including the San Jose Mercury News doing mostly features work. She is also an artist.
She had this to say about her 50th college reunion in 2003: "The friendships formed in J School have lasted more than half a century. That's as important as where to put the semicolons. It's a truth of journalism that everyone has a story. I knew my friends' stories, but I'd forgotten many of the twists and turns, so it was touching to hear them. At the {reunion} party, people were talking about what they'd taken with them from school. Some agreed it was the ability to produce under pressure. And we all retain a lively sense of curiosity. I'd add to that the firm belief that I have a right to knowledge. Sometimes the San Jose Mercury persona kicks in when some minor bureaucrat is holding back on me."
Jon W. Stewart: BA (Journalism), 1954
Mr. Stewart retired 31 December 1988 as Senior Foreign Service Officer, United States Information Agency. Except for one four-year tour in Washington, D.C., his career was spent at posts in Arab and/or Muslim countries of the Middle East, North Africa and Southwest Asia. He currently resides in Bothell.
Harold E. Carr BA, 1955 Communications
2006 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Harold Carr retired from The Boeing Company after a long career in public relations. His service includes over 20 years as director, then vice president, of public relations and advertising. He was also in charge of Boeing's historical archives and the company-wide weekly newspaper, Boeing News. He is the recipient of many awards, including the 2004 Jay Rockey Lifetime Achievement Award from the Puget Sound Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, and has served as a board member for several civic organizations. He also served two years as president and is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Flight
Rolf Glerum: BA, 1955
Glerum started his professional career in 1959 as promotions specialist for the West Coast Lumbermen's Association, later to merge with Western Pine Association to form Western Wood Products Association. His responsibilities with WCLA included news and feature writing, trade show coordination, builder and architect relations, do-it-yourself news articles, and other related activities.
Read more about Rolf Glerum >>
Richard Ossinger: BA, 1955
Richard Ossinger is healthy, happy and semi-retired. As of 2005 he has been married 42 years, has 3 children and 10 grandchildren. He runs an Internet business and massage practice on the Southern Coast of Oregon and has a vacation home west of Marysville, WA. He does some public speaking on goals and attitudes.
Ted Van Dyk BA, 1955 Communications
2006 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Ted Van Dyk has been active in national policy and politics for more than 30 years. He began active military duty in 1957 as a U.S. Army intelligence analyst. His subsequent jobs have included Soviet specialist and intelligence analyst at the Pentagon; senior assistant to Vice President Hubert Humphrey and coordinator of foreign assistance programs in the Carter Administration, to name just a few. He also served as a senior political and policy advisor to seven Democratic presidential candidates. Since early 2001, he has been an editorial-page columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and has continued writing periodically for national publications.
Robert Keatley, B.A. 1956
2006 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Robert Keatley has served as editor of three newspapers during his career in journalism in the U.S. and overseas. He now lives in Washington, D.C. After earning degrees from the University of Washington and Stanford University, he joined the Wall Street Journal, where he spent most of his career. He was a reporter in San Francisco, New York and Hong Kong, and became the Journal's diplomatic correspondent in Washington. Mr. Keatley was the paper's foreign editor in New York in 1978 before becoming editor of the Asian Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong in 1979, and concurrently publisher in 1983. In 1984, he was named editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe in Brussels, Belgium. He returned to Washington in 1992 to serve as a writer and editor specializing in international political and economic issues. He retired from the Journal in 1998 and returned to Hong Kong, where he was editor of the South China Morning Post, the leading English-language daily in the SAR. After completing his tour with the SCMP in 2001, he returned to Washington.
He is a director of the Washington Institute for Foreign Affairs, and is a member of the Cosmos Club of Washington, the Hong Kong Club and the Ladies Recreation Club of Hong Kong. In 1985 he received the UW Communications Department's distinguished alumnus award.
During the fall of 2005, Mr. Keatley taught a course on opinion-writing at the journalism department of Tsinghua University in Beijing, where he also served as a guest lecturer and participated in several conferences co-hosted by the department. In addition, he is founder and currently is editor of the Hong Kong Journal, an online quarterly hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. This new publication is devoted to articles about political, economic and social issues relating to Hong Kong and its neighborhood, and is intended to provide background information for those concerned about the territory and its development.
Neil McReynolds: BA, 1956
2005 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Mr. McReynolds is President of McReynolds Associates, Inc., a Seattle-based firm that advises corporations, non-profit organizations and trade associations on how to increase the effectiveness of their boards. Also, in the spring of each year he teaches an MBA class on corporate governance in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Washington and he is a frequent speaker on governance at business and non-profit seminars. For the past decade he has consulted extensively with governing boards on their organizational structure and effectiveness. He is considered one of the foremost authorities in the Pacific Northwest on matters concerning corporate governance.
Read more about Neil McReynolds >>
Read about his guest presentation in the Department's News Lab>>
Doug Ramsey: BA, 1956
Ramsey has written about jazz for Down Beat, Jazz Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the Dallas Morning News. He is also an author. In 2005, he released "Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond." The book was named the Best Book About Jazz by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2006, and was the winner of a 2006 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award (Ramsey's second such award), which recognizes outstanding print, broadcasting and new-media writing about music. Ramsey received his
first Deems award in 1997 for the essay accompanying the Bill Evans boxed CD set "The Secret Sessions." Ramsey's first novel, "Poodie James," was released in 2007 and he writes a popular jazz blog titled "Rifftides: Doug Ramsey on
jazz and other matters."
Diane (Williams) Read: BA (Journalism), 1956
For over a third of her life, Read has been writing science pieces for research organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. These pieces include grant applications, newsletters, and annual reports. In addition, Read continues her freelance work, but has devoted much of her time to
volunteering in poorer neighborhood schools in the San Francisco area, as well as dedicated her time to the San Francisco Symphony. Before living and working in San Francisco, Diane lived in Washington, D.C., and wrote for the Secretary of the Navy, as well as the Washington Post. As an undergraduate, Read was Campus Correspondent and a part-time reporter for The Seattle Times. After graduation, she was a reporter for the Bremerton Sun, then returned to the UW as assistant public information officer for the Division of Health Sciences. While living at Subic Bay, Philippines, she spearheaded a successful effort to establish a Sister City relationship with Bremerton, and wrote a series of articles for The Sun.
Guy W. Farmer: BA (Journalism), 1957
Mr. Farmer writes a Sunday political column for the daily Nevada Appeal of Carson City, NV. In October of 2003, he won a columnists' award at the annual convention of the Nevada Press Association.
Sharon LeeMaster: BA, 1957
Sharon LeeMaster CFRE, became a third generation graduate of the University of Washington in 1957. Her grandmother was in the first class from the current campus, 1894. (Grandma Helen rode the street car from downtown Seattle where her family lived and boarded the barge to take her to the emerging campus. She was also the first woman to receive an advanced degree — Pharmacy!) Sharon’s husband, a UW graduate, wears Helen Anthony Carey’s class ring as his wedding ring.
Read more about Sharon LeeMaster >>
Mike Peringer: BA, 1957
2007 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Mike Peringer recently won the prestigious Jefferson Award for his outstanding community service. The award honors his work on the Sodo Urban Art Corridor, which he established in 1995. Thanks to him, SoDo buildings once covered with graffiti now showcase art created by local, at-risk or disadvantaged children. ArtWorks, as the program is now known, helps hundreds of children and has branched out to many Seattle neighborhoods. A complete story of Mike's award and Artworks can be found in the March 6, 2003 of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
John Komen: BA, 1958 - Communications Radio-TV
While a senior at the UW, Komen worked full time for The Associated Press in Seattle (he was recommended for The AP job as a radio-news writer by one of his School of Communications professors); worked for The AP in Seattle, transferring to Olympia in 1961 to cover state-house and political news; hired by KOMO-TV news in 1963 as a field reporter, became KOMO-TV News night anchorman and later 6 p.m. anchorman/news editor (director); hired by ABC-TV news in 1967 as correspondent based in New York City, covered 1968 presidential campaign assigned at various times to campaigns of Richard Nixon, George Wallace, Hubert Humphrey, Spiro Agnew (also covered 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Republican National Convention in Miami, Robert Kennedy death watch in Los Angeles, crash of nuclear-armed bomber in Thule, Greenland, various protest marches and city riots), colleagues in New York City included Peter Jennings, Sam Donaldson, Marlene Sanders, Ted Koppel, John Scali; returned to Seattle in late 1969 as 11 p.m. news anchorman for KING-TV news; hired by the Tacoma News Tribune newspaper in 1976 as chief editorial writer, became associate editor, then managing editor, promoted to editor, retiring in December 1995 as editor of the editorial page after 19 years with the News Tribune.
1960s
Jody Deering Nyquist: BA, MA; 1960, 1967 Speech Communication
2004 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Jody Deering Nyquist is Associate Dean Emerita of the Graduate School at the University of Washington and an emeritas member of the graduate faculty of the Department of Communication. She was the University’s Director of the Center for Instructional Development and Research (CIDR) from 1984–2000. Both undergraduate and graduate work were completed at the University where she has been a faculty member since 1969. In the Department of Communication, Jody taught undergraduate and graduate courses in interpersonal and instructional communication, interviewing, small group facilitation, public speaking, and media.
Most recently she was PI for two major grants, one from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Spencer Foundation on the stages of graduate student development and the second from The Pew Charitable Trusts addressing the question of, “How can we re-envision the Ph.D. to meet the needs of the society of the 21st Century?” In addition to over 70 articles and book chapters, she has edited six books and co-authored Working Effectively with Graduate Assistants and Re-envisioning the Ph.D.: What Concerns Do We Have? Additionally she has published in such areas as service efficiency, service quality, and service delivery systems. Her expertise in research methodology lies primarily in the use of qualitative methods and the critical incident technique.
Jody has received numerous awards for her work in her discipline and in higher education from the University of Washington and from national and international organizations. Jody was President of the Western States Communication Association in 1984 and later received their highest award, the Distinguished Service Award. In 1992 she served as a Fulbright Senior Scholar in New Zealand. In 1996, she was awarded the prestigious Robert J. Kibler Award and in 2002, the Samuel L. Becker Award, the highest award given for scholarship, teaching, and service by the National Communication Association. In 2003, the Department of Communication established an endowment to fund the Nyquist Excellence in Communication Awards, and in 2004, Jody was inducted into the initial class of the Department of Communication’s Hall of Fame.
Jody has served on Boards for over 50 universities, organizations, independent schools, and non-profit agencies. She has served on the editorial boards of nine journals and as an outside reviewer for ten universities. She has lectured at over 20 universities in the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia. She was Visiting Professor at Nagoya University from September 5 to December 5, 2008.
Terence Todd: BA Radio-TV, 1960; MA Communication 1961
Martin H. Arnold: BA, 1964 (Journalism-Advertising)
Martin Arnold is retired from ITT after a 37-year career in public relations. For the past 15 years, he has taught communications at University of Connecticut and Iona. Arnold earned his MA in Communications from Fairfield University (’83) and an MBA from the University of New Haven (’97). He also took a certificate from the UW advanced management program in 1977.
Ruth Pumphrey: BA, 1996
Pumphrey worked for the news affiliate King TV for 20 years, moving up to the position of assignment editor before retiring in September of 2007. Since retirement Pumphrey fills her time with personal pleasures such as gardening and bird watching. She is also an avid clay sculptor, making abstract forms of art. She is one day hoping to get some of it shown in a gallery.
Read more about Ruth Pumphrey >>
Ron Sudderth: BA, 1964
Commercial real estate brokerage and investments, Seattle and Bellevue.
Bill Chamberlin: BA, 1967; PhD, 1977
Bill Chamberlin has been the Joseph L. Brechner Eminent Scholar in Mass Communications at the College of Journalism and Communications of the University of Florida since 1987. He now serves as Director of the Marion Brechner Citizen Access Project. He also is an affiliate professor of the UF College of Law.
Read more about Bill Chamberlin >>
David Marriott, B.A. 1967
2005 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Prominent public relations practitioner, mentor to students. He specializes in crisis management, crisis communication, labor communications, litigation support and media training. Marriott is a 30-year public relations professional, nationally accredited by the Public Relations Society of America, and a member of its Counselors Academy. His career spans broadcast journalism, politics, corporate and agency public relations. He currently serves as a member and past president of the Centrum Foundation board, a member and past chair of the Seattle Center Advisory Commission and a member and marketing committee Chair of the Seattle Repertory Theatre board of trustees. He has also held board positions with Earshot Jazz Society, University of Washington School of Music Visiting Committee and the Seattle King County chapter of the American Red Cross.
William H. Brubaker: MA, 1968
William Brubaker is a Snohomish County Councilman (2 terms), President of the Puget Sound Regional Council, Co-Chair of the Regional Transit Authority and Chairman of the Snohomish Transportation Authority. He is a former Emmy award-winning anchor-reporter for KOMO Television News. He also worked at KXLY Radio and TV in Spokane, WA; KPOJ Radio in Portland, OR and ABC West in Los Angeles. A retired Captain, United States Naval Reserve, he is the author of "Never as it Seems" and "A Fine Time to Rhyme." He also contributed to "Wings at the Ready, a History of the Naval Air Reserve." Mr. Brubaker is the 1991 recipient of the Freedom Foundation Award for Public Communications
Patricia Fisher BA, 1968 Communications
2006 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Patricia Fisher was a longtime area journalist and a mentor to many writers, particularly to young African American journalists. She was the first woman and the first African American to write editorials for The Seattle Times and she was a co-founder of the Black Journalists Association of Seattle. Patricia Fisher died in early 2006. Her Seattle Times obituary (2/13/06), begins: "Open doors lead to open minds. That's the way Patricia Fisher saw things. And for untold numbers of Northwest journalists, she proved a willing mentor, who not only took on but sought out such responsibilities."
Jack Hart: BA, 1968 Journalism
Jack Hart is a managing editor at The Oregonian, the Pacific Northwest's largest daily newspaper. He also has served as the newspaper's writing coach and staff development director, as editor of its Sunday magazine and as a general assignment reporter. He previously worked as a reporter at the Eugene Register-Guard and the Whidbey News-Times.
Leo Jeffres: M.A., 1968
Leo Jeffres is a professor in the Department of Communication at Cleveland State University, where he has also served in a variety of administrative roles, including chair of the Department of Communication, graduate director, and the director of the Communication Research Center.
Jeffres’ research focuses on mass communication theory and methodology, neighborhood and urban communication systems, communication technologies, ethnic communication, as well as audience analysis. He also works with students on the content analysis of the “watchdog function” of the press.
Among his many accomplishments, in 1983 Jeffres traveled to the University of the Philippines as a Visiting Fulbright Associate Professor where he taught courses in culture and communication and conducted research on development communication. While in the Philippines he also taught a graduate seminar at the Asian Institute of Journalism in Manila.
More recently, Jeffres was named a fellow of the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research in 1998. He was also a recipient of the “most prolific communication researcher” for the period of 1996-2001 by Communication Research Reports, as well as for the period of 1980-1985 by Journalism Quarterly.
Robert Merry: B.A., 1968
2004 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Robert W. Merry, publishing executive and author, is President and Publisher of Congressional Quarterly Inc. (CQ), the Washington-based publishing company that specializes in news and information on Congress, politics and public policy. He is the author of "Taking On the World: Joseph and Stewart Alsop - Guardians of the American Century," (Viking 1996). The New York Times called the biography a "rich and fascinating book .... a sensitive portrait, executed with .... critical acumen." The book won an Ambassador Award from the New York-based English Speaking Union.
Read more about Robert Merry>>
Eric Nalder: BA, 1968
2004 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Eric Nalder has received two Pulitzer Prizes, one for national reporting in 1990 and another for investigative reporting in 1997. He was also a finalist for the Pulitzer in public service in 1992. He has published one book, "Tankers Full of Trouble", which won the Investigative Reporters and Editors book award for 1994. He has received more than 60 state, regional and national journalism awards. He has taught interviewing and investigative reporting workshops in five countries, each year adding new techniques learned from journalists, cops, FBI agents, lawyers, social workers and other practitioners. He's been a reporter for 34 years, minus nine months spent as a pig farmer. He works on the investigative team of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and lives in Suquamish, WA. He has also lived in Norway, France, Lebanon and Afghanistan. This is his second stint at the P-I, having worked there previously from 1975 to 1983. He spent three and a half years at the San Jose Mercury News before joining the P-I on Aug. 30. Prior to that, he worked for The Seattle Times for 17 years. He also worked for the Everett Herald, Lynnwood Enterprise and Whidbey News Times. His wife Jan is also a UW graduate. His daughter Britt Nalder lives in Seattle and is a graphic artist.
Christine Gregoire: BA, 1969 Speech Communication
2004 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
2004 Department of Communication Distinguished Alumna
The honorable Christine Gregoire is Washington's 22nd governor. Prior to serving as governor, Gregoire served three terms as attorney general, the first woman to be elected to the position in Washington. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2003 WA State Physicians for Social Responsibility Award and the 2001 College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Alumna award.
Rob Harper: BA 1969
When natural disasters hit Washington, many are left shaken, distressed and emotionally drained.
For Rob Harper, it’s a long day at work – and a way to make a difference.
The 1969 broadcast journalism alumnus is a public information officer for the Washington state Emergency Management Division. During emergencies and natural disasters, he helps the community to respond effectively.
Robert Laing: BA, 1969; MA, 1972; PhD, 1975
After over twenty years working in foreign countries, Laing returned States’ side in 2006 as in currently working as a diplomat in residence for the State Department at Arizona State University doing lectures, speaking at career fairs and talking to students. Although Laing is 61 years old, he is uncertain about retirement as he’s trying to decide whether or not he’s going to serve another tour. However, in the end he wants to retire back in Seattle where it all began.
Read more about Robert Laing >>
Cliff Porter: BA, 1969 (Speech Communication)
Since graduation, Mr. Porter has worked as a radio announcer and in retail sales. In his response to the Communication Alumni Newsletter, spring, 2006 edition, he reports that his interests are railroading, writing and art.
Catherine Shannon Stevens: BA, 1969
Catherine graduated from the UW with a degree in Journalism/Advertising. She is married to Craig Stevens, also a 1969 UW graduate from the School of Communications. She is a principal at The Marketing Partners, Inc., a Bellevue, WA marketing, advertising and public relations agency specializing in helping regional companies effectively market their products. Catherine is the President-elect of the Seattle Professional Chapter of Association for Women in Communications.
