2002-2003 Ted Scripps Fellows Selected

A diverse group of journalists arrives in Boulder in August to spend an academic year at the University of Colorado as Ted Scripps Fellows in Environmental Journalism. The fellowships, now in their sixth year, are sponsored by the university’s Center for Environmental Journalism and funded through a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation. The program offers mid-career journalists an opportunity to deepen their understanding of environmental issues through academic study, seminars and field trips in the Boulder region, home to more than 300 environmental science Ph.Ds.

The five new Fellows hail from around the country, from a variety of media backgrounds. Elizabeth Bluemink, an environmental reporter with The Anniston Star in Anniston, Ala., covers environmental health concerns, two Superfund sites, and regional pollution. Through exhaustive investigative work she has broken a number of stories on PCB, lead and mercury contamination by the Monsanto corporation in Anniston, becoming an expert on the ongoing multi-million-dollar litigation case against the company. The winner of a first-place award for feature writing in 2000 from the Alabama Associated Press Managing Editors, Bluemink previously worked for The Virginian Pilot. She has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Virginia. Her fellowship project will focus on environmental health research, including social responses to environmental catastrophes.

John Flesher is the Traverse City, Mich., correspondent for the Associated Press. He covers news and features in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula region, as well as environmental and agricultural issues statewide. Previously he was the AP’s Michigan regional reporter in the Washington bureau and began his AP career in the North Carolina statehouse in Raleigh. Flesher was AP’s Michigan Staffer of the Year in 1995 and a Great Lakes Environmental Issues Fellow at the Michigan State University School of Journalism in 1997. He has a bachelor's degree in English from North Carolina State University. His fellowship project will investigate the challenges and impact of growth in small towns and rural areas, concentrating on northern Michigan.

Douglas MacPherson is a senior reporter for New Hampshire Public Radio in Concord. He specializes in science and natural resource issues. His stories have appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, and Public Radio International’s Marketplace. He has also held a variety of positions, from statehouse reporter to producer, at NPR’s Boston affiliate, WBUR. MacPherson’s bachelor's degree is in Literary Studies from Middlebury College in Vermont. His project will concentrate on climate change and its potential impacts for the Northeast.

Alaska is home to Natalie Phillips, a senior staff writer at the Anchorage Daily News, where her assignments focus on science and environmental issues. As the paper’s former federal court reporter, she covered the class action Exxon Valdez oil spill trial. Before moving north Phillips was a reporter and assistant managing editor at the Bozeman (MT) Daily Chronicle, and a staff writer at the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph and The Vail Trail in Vail, Colo. A recipient of numerous state, regional and national journalism awards, she has also freelanced for a range of publications including TIME magazine, The New York Times and The Washington Post. She has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Montana and has studied in language programs at the University of Salamanca, Spain, and Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City. Phillips’ fellowship project will explore the culture and evolution of social attitudes and practices about hunting.

New Fellow David Wilson won’t have to pull up stakes to pursue his fellowship: he lives in Boulder, where he is a freelance radio producer focusing on science and environmental issues. His more than 100 news stories and documentaries have appeared on programs such as Soundprint, Marketplace, Living on Earth, High Plains News and Pacifica Network News. He was previously managing producer at Alternative Radio after several years as news and public affairs director for Boulder-based public radio station KGNU. His “Exploring the Universe” program was awarded the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Whitaker Award for best radio documentary series in 2000. Wilson holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Colorado and earned a master's in physics from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar. His project will examine the future of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex in the American West.