Five journalists will become the eighth class of Ted Scripps Fellows in Environmental Journalism when they arrive at the University of Colorado at Boulder in August.
The fellowships are sponsored by the Center for Environmental Journalism and funded through a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation. The nine-month program offers mid-career journalists an opportunity to deepen their understanding of environmental issues and policy through coursework, seminars and field trips in the region.
The new fellows will be ideally located for such studies, according to Wendy Redal, the center's program coordinator, as Boulder Valley is home to more than 300 Ph.D.s working in the environmental sciences at CU and major federal laboratories nearby.
The new fellows are:
Sam Eaton, an independent radio producer and reporter, currently is in El Salvador where he is producing a bilingual radio documentary for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The project looks at the condition of Central America and its people two decades after the civil strife that tore much of the region apart. Eaton also has reported on global trade issues from Central America for Minnesota Public Radio's show "Marketplace." Previously, he was a staff reporter for Marketplace in New York City and a staff reporter at KUOW, Seattle's National Public Radio affiliate.
Rachel Odell, environmental reporter at The Bulletin in Bend, Ore., covers public lands management, air and water quality, fish and river restoration and recreation. Before joining The Bulletin in 2001, she covered the environment for the Jackson Hole News in Jackson, Wyo., and freelanced for High Country News.
Liz Ruskin is a Washington, D.C., correspondent for the Anchorage Daily News. She covers Alaska issues in the nation's capital, including the debate over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and logging in the Tongass National Forest, among other energy, environment, appropriations and transportation topics. She previously worked for the Daily News in Anchorage for nine years, after beginning her career at the Homer (Alaska) News.
Andrew Silva, environment and transportation reporter at The Sun in San Bernardino, Calif., has reported in-depth on water and air pollution, the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, desert ecology and the bark beetle crisis in the San Bernardino National Forest. Prior to joining the Sun's staff, he covered government beats at newspapers in Palm Springs, Riverside and Anaheim, Calif.
Nadia White, state editor at the Casper Star-Tribune in Wyoming, oversees development of statewide news through bureaus across the state. Her daily stories include a slate of environmental topics from oil, gas and coal production on public lands to a multitude of wildlife and habitat issues. White's own work has focused on brucellosis, a livestock disease with enormous impacts on bison and elk in Yellowstone National Park. She traveled to Kazakhstan in 2003 to report on the disease in a comparative context with Wyoming.
Since 1997, the Scripps Howard Foundation has provided annual grants for its fellowships at CU-Boulder, named for Ted Scripps, grandson of the founder of the E.W. Scripps Co. Ted Scripps distinguished himself as a journalist who cared about First Amendment rights and the environment.
The Center for Environmental Journalism at CU-Boulder is the first of its kind in the United States and dates to 1992. For more information call (303) 492-4114 or visit .