The June 2008 issue of Columns Magazine featured a memorable story on 100 “famous, fascinating or influential living graduates.” The Department of Communication was impressively represented by 12 alumni from the list of 100. In celebration of the UW’s College of Arts & Sciences’ 150th anniversary, we will feature those Wondrous 12 throughout the year as a reminder of the impressive and often awe-inspiring work our alumni are doing.

Assunta Ng, ’74, ’76, ’79

Frustrated that she “had to get a San Francisco newspaper to get any Chinese news,” Ng founded the Seattle Chinese Post and Northwest Asian Weekly newspapers in the early 1980s. These publications, together with her tireless volunteerism, make Ng an invaluable presence in Seattle’s Asian American community, and beyond.

Norman Rice, ’72, ’74

Democrat Rice is Seattle’s first and only African American mayor. Rice is currently Distinguished Practitioner-in-Residence at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs.

Eric Nalder, ’68

An investigative reporter for the Seattle P-I who knows how to follow the money, the smoke and the oil slick, Nalder has received two Pulitzers. He exposed dangerous flaws in the regulation of oil tankers, the misuse of HUD funds and the abuse of vulnerable people in long-term-care facilities. Photo by Grant M Haller.

Bryan Monroe, ’87

Bryan Monroe is the Editor of CNNPolitics.com. He was a Visiting Professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and the CEO of The Monroe Media Group and Vice President and Editorial Director of EBONY and JET Magazines at Johnson Publishing Company. Formerly the assistant vice president/news of Knight Ridder and the president of the National Association of Black Journalists, Bryan helped lead the team that won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Monroe is a member of the UW Communication Alumni Hall of Fame.

Dolores Sibonga, ’52, ’73

Dolores 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. Sibonga has been an active community member, serving on the boards of the Wing Luke Asian Museum, the Art Institute, Inter*Im, Port Jobs, and the King County Board of Tax Appeals and Equalization.

David Horsey, ’75

David Horsey won two Pulitzer Prizes as editorial cartoonist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He joined The Los Angeles Times: Top of the Ticket in January 2011 after 30 years with the Seattle P-I.

Lou Gellermann, ’59

A member of the 1958 Crew, the team that took away a win from the USSR favorites and world champion Leningrad Trud crew in Moscow’s Khimi Reservoir by 1 3/4 length. It was the first American sporting victory in the USSR.

Laura Chang, ’84

Chang is known for her work on excerpting the Unabomber manifesto for the New York Times in 1995. She was the paper’s science editor from 2004 to 2011 and then moved on to direct the paper’s cross-departmental coverage of the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11.

Robb Weller, ’72

Well-known in and outside of Hollywood, Weller is hosted of A&E’s Top 10, and co-anchored Entertainment Tonight. He is he Executive VP at ATLX Channel and a partner/executive producer of Weller/Grossman Productions, the company responsible for bringing reality and documentary shows to the Food Network, the Discovery Channel and others.

Edwin Guthman, ’41, ’44

Guthman wrote a series of articles for The Seattle Times that proved UW Professor Melvin Rader was not a member of a Communist training school and received a 1950 Pulitzer Prize for his work.

Timothy Egan, ’81

Seattle’s reputation as a literate city comes partly from Egan’s work as the author of several books, including his Dust Bowl chronicle The Worst Hard Time, winner of the National Book Award in nonfiction. Egan also has a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting.

Christine Gregoire, ’69, ’71

Gregoire was the first woman to be elected attorney general in Washington and served three terms, notably winning a $4.5 billion share for the state in a tobacco settlement. In 2004, she became Washington’s second female governor and served until 2012.