Former Fellow Updates

Paula Dobbyn (1998-99) landed several awards for her series of articles in the Anchorage Daily News on a conflict of interest involving Alaska's state attorney general who resigned as a result. Her reporting was honored with a McClatchy President's Award, a Society of American Business Editors and Writers Award, a Society of Professional Journalists regional award for investigative reporting, and the Alaska Press Club's investigative reporting award. Paula hopes to spend next year in Ireland, where she wants to explore her family roots and attend graduate school. She is making an initial trip this November to check out master's programs in Creative Writing, Celtic Studies and Reconciliation Studies. She also provides foster care for an Alaska Native girl and is currently getting certified to teach yoga.

Sam Eaton (2004-05) was recently hired by Marketplace as a Senior Reporter heading up their new Global Sustainability Desk, which covers the intersection of sustainability and the economy. While the beat is global, Sam will get to stay in Boulder, where he and his wife relocated following his fellowship last year. Sam had previously been reporting for Marketplace on contract since June and has led the program's coverage of post-Katrina New Orleans' recovery efforts.

John Flesher (2002-03) now has a specialist byline with the Associated Press: AP Environmental Writer. While he still covers general assignment stories as the wire's northern Michigan correspondent, his new title, bestowed through a competitive process at AP headquarters in New York, honors John's depth in environmental coverage. A specialist title recognizes a reporter's initiative in carving out a beat in a given area and demonstrating accomplishment in that arena. John says that when his bureau chief submitted his nomination to the New York office, he emphasized the value of the Scripps Fellowship in bolstering John's environmental reporting prowess.

Daniel Glick (2000-01) stays busy covering the environment for several major magazines. His cover story on endangered species success stories appeared in the September 2005 Smithsonian, and the fall issue of Nature Conservancy featured his cover story about climate change's effects on native Alaskan cultures. National Geographic will again feature's Dan work with a piece on lynx reintroduction in the January 2006 issue.

Katy Human (2000-01) is enjoying her job as science writer at the Denver Post where she has covered many environment-related stories from climate change to naturally occurring asbestos. She and her husband Gregg are expecting baby No. 2 in March, who will join big brother Miles.

Vicki Monks (2003-04) has relocated to Oklahoma where she is working on a book about Indian Country in Oklahoma 100 years after statehood and reporting on environmental threats to Indian lands. She won a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism to continue a series of radio stories on that subject for NPR's Living on Earth program. (For more on Vicki's SEJ award for her Living on Earth reporting, see the feature story in this issue of CEJ News/Views.) She is currently investigating the situation in Tar Creek, Okla., where Indian children have blood lead levels four times the national average, far above levels known to cause brain damage. Abandoned lead and zinc mines in northeastern Oklahoma continue to contaminate Quapaw tribal lands in the region, despite designation as a priority Superfund site 20 years ago, Vicki reports. She is also teaching broadcast writing as an adjunct instructor at the University of Oklahoma's Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Susan Moran (2001-02) has been living in Boulder since her fellowship ended, where she balances freelancing and teaching journalism classes at CU. After spending a year and a half as a full-time instructor, Susan is teaching less in order to write more, mostly on the intersection of environment, business, public health and technology issues. Her most recent articles have appeared in The Economist, Newsweek, 5280, and Inc. magazines. In June 2005, Susan married Tom McKinnon in an outdoor ceremony atop Flagstaff Mountain in the Boulder foothills.

Rachel Odell (2004-05) got bit by the Boulder bug following her fellowship last year and is now an associate editor at Skiing magazine here. Her fellowship project story on whether dams on the Snake River represent a "taking" of tribal fishing rights was published Sept. 5, 2005 in High Country News. Rachel just bought a house in Boulder and plans to spend the winter skiing, writing and learning more about editing. Her new e-mail address is rachel.odell@time4.com.

Paul Tolme (2000-01) is a very active freelance magazine writer specializing in the environment, wildlife, skiing, outdoor adventure and travel. He is a contributing writer at SKI magazine and a frequent contributor to Newsweek, for whom he covers breaking national news from the Rockies. He writes regularly for National Wildlife and his stories have also appeared in Audubon, Defenders of Wildlife, Hooked on the Outdoors, FAIR, and Mountain Gazette. For links to Paul's many articles ranging from the effects of mercury poisoning on wildlife to threatened flowering plants affected by climate change, visit Paul's website. Paul lives in the small mountain town of Nederland in Colorado's Front Range, where he spends a lot of time on his mountain bike when he isn't reporting.

Nadia White (2004-05) has moved to Missoula, Montana, where she is writing a book about brucellosis, the subject of her fellowship project last year. She participated in October in a 10-day tour of "Salmon Country" for reporters, sponsored by the Institutes on Journalism and Natural Resources, headed by Ted Scripps Fellowship board member Frank Allen. Traveling through coastal and mountain areas in the Pacific Northwest, White studied the links between salmon, habitat and forestry, and says, "I learned a ton." Her new e-mail address is white_nadia@hotmail.com.

David Wilson (2002-03) updates us with news that he has "crossed over to the dark side": he's nearly through his first semester of law school at the University of Colorado. He blames his year as a Scripps Fellow for the career transition, when he took natural resources law classes at CU and was impacted by Professor Charles Wilkinson. While he says he loves law school, he adds, "I'll always be a journalist, regardless of my other occupations. Hopefully, this education will enhance my reporting skills." He's also excited about the opportunity to "feed, clothe and house myself," which he admits was difficult as a freelance radio producer.