Eric Nalder is a 1968 graduate of the Department and an award-winning investigative journalist. Among his professional recognitions are two Pulitzer Prizes. He writes for Seattlepi.com and he is a senior enterprise reporter for Hearst Newspapers.

Nalder has covered some of the top stories of the last few decades, including the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska and the 1995 Seattle fire that killed four firemen. His story blew open problems with safety precautions within the Seattle Fire Department. Nalder continues to bring his excellent investigative skills to regional, national, and international news.

In 2009, he turned his investigative spotlight on fellow Communication alum and investigative reporter Heather Brooke and talked in depth about her investigations into corrupt British parliamentary leadership. The professional courtesy from the award-winning Nalder was an honor for Brooke, a young reporter continuing Nalder’s legacy of excellence.

1) How did your education prepare you for your career and what were one or two accomplishments that came out of that?

The war in Vietnam set a fire on campus — literally and figuratively — that hardened my desire to seek verifiable information about the workings of my world. I wasn’t surprised when our leaders lied, but I was impressed when journalists exposed those falsehoods.

I needed some guidance. I was a raw kid. It wasn’t enough to be outraged by dishonesty or to be curious about the inner workings of a frail democracy. I had to be introduced to the hard work known as reporting, the tempered approach known as objectivity and the craft of writing.

I was a political science major who stumbled into the communications school one day after going to the wrong academic counselor. I expressed an interest in classes that required essay tests and he sent me to one taught — as I recall — by Fendall Yerxa. I signed up for journalism. Professionals and academics like Bill Ames, Bill Shadel, Larry Schneider and Alex Edelstein provided the basics and broadened my vision. I remember Schneider stopping me in the hallway and looking me in the eye.

“You could be a great journalist someday if you would just apply yourself,” he said.

By way of explanation, I had a tendency to play a lot.

As important to me as the lessons in journalism class, were the activities outside. There were demonstrations, my work at The Daily, classes about everything from the ways of government to the mysteries of geology and debates with friends. The accomplishments that came out of those were the stories themselves, thousands of them that I produced over the next half century. Two forces on campus prepared me — the atmosphere of disobedience and the schooling I received in responsible fact finding.

I wasn’t a journalist yet when I graduated, but I was ready to become one.

2) What is your fondest memory from your days as a UW student?

This had nothing to do with journalism, but my fondest memory was a spring street dance north of campus in 1967. A buddy dared me to ask an attractive woman to dance. When she said yes, it changed my life. To put it mildly, she was a new experience. She was intelligent and low-keyed, a quiet anti-war activist, a person from a very different background and a true rebel without pretense. Meeting her and becoming her partner was the beginning of the greatest educational journey provided by the University of Washington. Jan Christiansen is still my wife, thankfully.

3) Where was your favorite place on campus to study?

For some reason studying is the activity I remember the least, but I did study and I urge young people today to do more of it. A university is like an ocean of untapped information. Just attending lectures and reading the minimum material is like standing on the beach never venturing in. My room was the best place to study, because I was undisturbed there, but I preferred the library. In the library, I constantly wandered into the periodicals section to read news stories rather than focusing on my mandatory subject matter.

4) Who is your favorite UW Husky?

Besides Jan, it is Ivan Doig. Ivan is a great friend, but also an inspiration. His work ethic, his methods and his character are wrapped together into a fascinating package.